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Presentation
Chemical fumigation of grain during storage and transportation remains the most common and accessible method of protecting grain products in the global grain industry.
Sin embargo, with SGFOne, it will now be possible to reduce environmental risks, lower the cost of chemical fumigation, and improve fumigation safety at grain storage facilities.
Fumigation of grain crops is carried out after harvesting during storage in grain storage facilities. Grain storage facilities can be horizontal (single-story warehouses) or vertical (grain elevators made of reinforced concrete or metal).
Silo elevators are the most technologically advanced and have the highest capacity.
Grain storage heights typically range from 10 Para 30 meters.
Using electrical grain elevator equipment: belt conveyors, auger loaders, pneumatic loaders, grain is loaded into the elevator and moved for cooling in winter and fumigation.
Grain fumigation is carried out at grain storage facilities at least once and more often during 6 months of storage.
Phosphine gas (PH3) is used for grain chemical fumigation – a highly toxic gas that penetrates the respiratory tract of pests, including hard-to-reach places inside the grain mass, Phosphine blocks cellular respiration, preventing oxygen absorption and normal oxidation processes. It also paralyzes the nervous system, leading to the loss of the ability to move and eat. Como resultado, the body’s vital functions cease, and the pests die.
Although Phosphine gas is heavy, it usually sinks under its own weight no deeper than 1-2 meters into the grain, and to fumigate the entire volume of grain in the grain elevator, the grain is moved, lowering its level in the silo storage to 2 meters and re-pumping the grain, raising the level, adding phosphine layer by layer into the capacity of the grain storage.
Energy-intensive machinery and equipment are used to move grain at the elevator. Due to gas diffusion, hasta 20% of the phosphine unintentionally spreads into the elevator’s technical rooms and beyond. This creates restrictions on the presence of personnel at the grain storage facility without protective equipment for a long period (the period of fumigation, exposure, and decontamination (forced ventilation of these premises) and limits the implementation of other technological work at the facility.
Fumigation is carried out with solid fumigants (in the form of spherical tablets, plates, flat tablets, granules) weighing from 3 gramos, Aluminum Phosphide or Magnesium Phosphide, supplied by the manufacturer in sealed aluminum cans with an airtight lid.
Phosphide is introduced into the grain layers in the form of solid tablets (plates, granules), Dónde, under the influence of moisture in the surrounding environment (in the grains and in the air between the grains), it reacts with the moist air to form gaseous Phosphine. One 3-gram aluminum Phosphide tablet releases approximately 1 gram of gaseous Phosphine.
Phosphine then spreads through the intergranular space through gas diffusion, typically sinking to a shallow depth. This is why it’s important to distribute the solid fumigant Phosphide evenly, layer by layer, throughout the grain, using the grain-by-layer method in the grain elevator.
Por ejemplo, in horizontal (floor) grain warehouses, where the height of grain storage does not exceed 3-5 meters, the introduction of solid phosphide fumigants is carried out manually by probing – using special fumigation probes (hasta 2 m long), the fumigant is inserted and unloaded into the thickness of the grain to a depth equal to the length of the probe.
At a height (depth) of grain storage in vertical grain storage facilities (grain elevators) of up to 30 m, this method of using grain fumigation is impossible.
What are the disadvantages and risks of fumigating grain in a silo grain elevator using traditional fumigation methods?
1. Full or partial movement of grain for fumigation is accomplished using elevator mechanisms and equipment.
Energy consumption of elevator equipment and labor costs associated with the technological process.
Economic disadvantages:
1.1. Energy costs associated with the operation of equipment, mechanisms, and lighting.
1.2. Labor costs associated with maintaining personnel to support the process.
2. Restrictions on facility operation,
Restrictions on personnel presence at the facility without personal protective equipment.
Economic disadvantages:
restrictions on the operation of the facility during the period of fumigation, exposure and decontamination.
3. There is an involuntary spread of phosphine gases (hasta 20%) due to wind diffusion beyond the grain storage silos of the elevator due to the continuous movement of grain and the open loading of phosphides into the grain (via conveyor or through hatches).
Environmental risks, industrial hazards:
Phosphine gas leakage into other production areas of the facility (upper and lower elevator galleries), into the outdoor area of the facility, and into the surrounding environment.
4. High cost of fumigation works and high labor intensity of fumigation works (services)
Economic disadvantages:
High cost of fumigation services for the customer