A new environmentally-friendly container solution for grain silos, organic products and brewery suppliers has been released by BOGE in an effort to provide protection from pests.
While the number of starving people in the world keeps increasing, large amounts of grains are going to waste after harvesting while on their way to the consumer. It is the poorer regions of the world that are most affected.
Granary weevils, parasitic fungi, mice and rats: a large part of the grain stored worldwide falls victim to pests and so-called breathing losses. Oxygen plays a critical part in this.
Compressed air specialist BOGE has developed its container BLUEprotect in an effort decrease oxygen in storage and thereby minimise loses.
BLUEprotect uses nitrogen from the ambient air. A compressor produces compressed air close to the silo. It reaches a membrane filter via a dryer and combined filter, which separates the nitrogen (N2) from the oxygen (O2) and feeds it into the silo.
As a main component of the air we breathe, nitrogen is available in unlimited supplies, and is completely harmless when it comes into contact with foodstuffs. After use, the nitrogen is re-absorbed into the ambient air.
“This makes BLUEprotect an attractive method of pest control where the use of chemical agents is not permitted or desirable – for example, in ecological farming or in the supply chain for breweries,” said Nalin Amunugama, general manager of BOGE Kompressoren Asia Pacific.
“Malting plants, for instance, have to ensure that no chemical residues are left behind in the barley; these could later find their way into the beer with the malt when brewing.”