Hermetic Storage

What is Hermetic Storage?

Stepping backwards 3,000 years with modern technology.

Airtight "Hermetic" storage was used to store dry food crops thousands of years ago. Sealed clay urns stored underground in Persia continue to be found by archaeologists with the stored grain inside.

Hermetic means airtight. Etymologists believe the word hermetic is attributable to Hermes Trismegistus, the Gnostic teacher and writer who was said to have invented a "magic seal" to keep vessels airtight.

The origin of hermetic storage is lost in antiquity. The important point is that grains stored in an hermetic environment do not spoil, nor can insects survive and consume that which is stored. Food products stored in an hermetic environment remain fresh and tasty; seeds maintain their vigor and their ability to germinate.

Given modern mass chemical protection of foodstuffs, the single most important aspect of hermetic storage is that no chemicals are needed.  Food stored in an hermetic environment is natural, unpolluted, organic, and healthy.

GrainPro has taken an ancient concept and modified it, using modern technology, with stunning results. Ultra-violet resistant PVC airtight membranes fitted with extruded airtight zipper fasteners form a simple hermetically sealed container. Two pieces, no problems. These GrainPro airtight granaries require no infrastructure and no pesticides to preserve grains. They range from a few kg capacity to larger than 30,000 tonnes.

GrainPro airtight granaries are relevant to the most modern organic farmer as well as subsistence farmers. They are also relevant to food security organizations, feed mills, and to the food industry. All want to have a storage facility that would protect their harvests from insect infestation without resorting to expensive, noxious pesticides.

Forms of Hermetic Storage

Organic Hermetic Storage - the natural respiration process of insects in dry commodities, or for commodities with high moisture content, the commodity itself creates an hermetic atmosphere. The Organic Hermetic Process has been successfully used for more than a decade. It involves a flexible hermetic enclosure such as the GrainPro Cocoon™, SuperGrainbag™, TranSafeliner™,  which has a low enough permeability to air so that after a few days (typically a week to ten days at room temperature) primarily due to insect respiration, the oxygen level is reduced to a level which cannot sustain insect life, typically 1-2% O₂, while the CO₂ level rises very substantially. This is essentially an asphyxiation process. In this process it is common for the insects, once stressed, to climb out of storage bags and to be found dead in the liner of the Cocoon. The low O₂ environment prevents growth of fungi and aflatoxins and creates a very favorable environment to preserve seed germination capacity without refrigeration. Humidity on the outside cannot penetrate to raise the moisture level.

Gas-Hermetic Fumigation and Storage (G-HF) - This is a process whereby, instead of eliminating the oxygen with a vacuum pump or through natural breathing processes, CO₂ is rapidly introduced into a flexible container, to drive out the air and its oxygen with the least mixing possible. This is typically done in a very few minutes using bottled CO₂ or gas line. In some instances, nitrogen has been used instead, but this method requires a higher percentage concentration than with CO₂, which needs only to be in the lower 90% vs. the high 90% for nitrogen. This process is preferred where the commodity is crushable. The kill times are typically in three days or less for all life forms for most observed insects. Figs and dates are good examples of the use of this process.

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