click image to zoom Over the last several years, foaming in
manure pits has increased in swine barns across the Midwest
becoming a serious issue for many pork producers. By reducing
pit capacity, foaming poses a serious management problem. Even
more urgent, however, is the safety threat created by the foam.
By trapping large amounts of explosive methane, foam creates a
high potential for fires and explosions, especially when the
foam is broken down during agitation and pumping. For the past
few years, researchers at University of Minnesota and the
University of Illinois have led the way in pit foaming research.
According to Larry Jacobson and David Schmidt, University of
Minnesota researchers, pit foaming has been reported in up to 28
percent of Midwest swine operations. Now, researchers at Iowa
State University are studying the root cause of foaming.
However, while study on the causes of pit foaming is gaining
intensity, solutions to the complex problem are slow to emerge.
Foaming in deep pits requires three