Yes you can fumigate grain with Phosphine without having to worry about flames residual dust or bin entry.
The HDS system uses cylinderized Phospine called VaporPhos and is blended with ambient air into a desired concentration. The Horn Diluphos System (HDS) was developed by Dr. Franciscus Horn in Chile in 1995 and he has perfected it into the form we have today. The gas mixture is injected into the grain mass, usually in bottom aeration ducts. The unit is compact, mobile, and user friendly. There are several models available for size of structure.
Advantages:
One advantage of VaporPhos is the ability to introduce the fumigant in a few hours rather than a few days, like solid phosphine. Fumigation Service & Supply has been commercially fumigating grain with this system since 2001. The
HDS allows you to precisely dose a structure or commodity. If the gas loss dictates a need to add gas, simply add more. Because the structure is getting dosed with efficacious levels initially, there is reduced exposure time necessary.
It is also ideal for commodities that have low tolerance/ no tolerance for residual dust or need to be fumigated multiple times.
In commodities such as popcorn and rice, it eliminates the need for disposal of spent fumigant. This system has given grainmanagers the ability to treat ground piles and bunkers, which were not always possible.
Seed and Grain Case Studies Using the HDS:
With the strengths of phosphine, come weaknesses. Two primary weaknesses are flammability and long treatment times. Recently FSS utilized a new phosphine based fumigant called Vaporphos (VP) to solve three very difficult treatment needs. This involved treating bagged ingredient which was infested with Saw- toothed grain beetle. The problem was isolated and treated within eight hours of discovery. Infested material was treated under tarp. Phosphine’s penetration capabilities were what was needed and the treatment was successful. Treatment took only 48 total hours and the treated product was then moved to be destroyed without risk of contamination of other goods. Another case was with bulk grain ground piles which could not be treated with traditional metal phosphide because of long treatment times and risk of flammability VP and Horn Diluphos System (HDS) was used and 1.5 million bushels where shipped out the following week, Insect Free! Another successful treatment. Since then, the site has treated three more cycles and is growing their business with additional grain stored on the ground due to their new found level of confidence in protecting this valuable commodity.
(According to fumigationzone.com)
