The background
Increasing numbers of pesticides and other micro pollutants enter our water cycle with our waste water. Dutch horticulture is proven to give the highest yields per square meter couple with the lowest water and pesticide use in the entire world. Despite that further regulation has been implemented to make sure no unwanted compounds from our greenhouses enter the environment through their drainage.
The case
Ridder Growing solutions, then Hortimax, an old and valued partner of Van Remmen for years, wanted to develop a system that could comply with these rules while giving growers an affordable and robust solution. Since owners of greenhouses are effectively forced to buy a system the goal was to keep it as simple as possible, while at the same time complying with the strict regulations with a high degree of robustness. Van Remmen was chosen to develop this system for Ridder using their Advanox™ technology.
The solution
A system was developed that used only UV-C light in combination with hydrogen peroxide, the Advanox™ technology. The reasoning behind it was that with few parts also few things can go wrong, which proved to be an excellent choice. Because horticulture is constantly changing and growing flexibility was an added design criterium which is implemented easily with the inherent scalability of UV-C based systems. By making the entire system staged from the start, and approving it like that, a wide range of capacities can easily be offered and integrated.
Results
The system was fully approved, for drainage water treatment, but also for use with Imidacloprid that has even higher restrictions. The Cleanlite™ system is now sold worldwide with great success.
