Microwave Treatment as a Pesticide Alternative for Stored-Products

Bigelow, T.S. ; Forrester, S.C. ; Halverson, S. ; Halverson, B. ; Phillips, T.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

关键词: Dusts;    Us Doa;    Flow Rate;    Insects;    Beetles;   

DOI  :  10.2172/940384
RP-ID  :  ORNL00-0531
RP-ID  :  DE-AC05-00OR22725
RP-ID  :  940384

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This CRADA was a continuation of earlier work with Micro-Grain, Inc. to develop power, high frequency microwave treatment process to treat insect infested grain. ORNLs role was as a subcontractor to Micro-Grain's Phase II SBIR project funded by the US Department of Agriculture. The primary objective was to develop a commercial scale prototype unit capable of treating infested grain at flow rates approaching 1 kg/sec, which is required to be viable in the grain handling industry. A flow rate of {approx} 0.12 Kg/second was demonstrated at 20 kW microwave power level with 100% kill rate. The system is capable of 200 kW however waveguide arcing due to grain dust in the waveguide limited the power to 20 kW during the tests. Development tasks performed during the project included modification of an existing high-power microwave exposure facility to uniformly process large grain samples at high flow rates and improved instrumentation to detect grain flow and uniformity. Microwave processing tasks include a series of controlled exposure tests using infested grain samples provided and analyzed by the University of Oklahoma. Grain samples were infested with red flour beetles which proved the most difficult to kill in earlier tests. Most of the samples processed resulted in quite successful kill rates and a maximum grain temperature of 46 C. The facilities utilized at ORNL are located in the Fusion Energy building (9201-2 at Y-12) and include the 28 GHz 200 kW CW high power microwave facility and microwave test equipment associated with the FED Microwave Development Laboratory in 9201-2. An improved microwave exposure chamber and grain flow control and handling equipment were designed and build as a joint effort between Micro-Grain and ORNL. A number of insect infested grain tests were successfully performed although the higher power, higher flow rates were limited by arcing in the microwave waveguide and damage to the gyrotron output window. Test results and the overall performance of the applicator system are very favorable for continued development of the concept. Further tests were performed in a large high power 2.45 GHz microwave applicator in batches. These samples were also quite effectively treated which supports the concept that a lower cost, lower frequency microwave system might be more successful due to the improved economics and simpler operation and maintenance of the low frequency system. Follow-on work is still possible however the untimely death of Steve Halverson, founder of Micro-grain, has essentially brought the development work to a close for now. Micro-Grain is being run by relatives at a low level who are not actively pursuing further funding.