Nitrogen Foam Delivery System
The Livetec Nitrogen Foam Delivery System (NFDS) – an alternative to the use of carbon dioxide for whole-house gassing.
Our NFDS delivers high expansion foam infused with nitrogen, which surrounds animals like poultry and swine, which leads to the deprivation of oxygen supply to the body or brain (anoxia), inducing a complete loss of function.
This approach effectively minimises pain and stress as it eliminates hypoxia, mitigates the need for excessive handling, and guarantees the absence of tracheal occlusion.
How does the Nitrogen Foam Delivery System work?
You don’t have to seal the house or shed, significantly speeding up the process. We designed our system, using nitrogen, to deliver a gas-filled foam that envelopes the animals (who are not startled by it) and effectively eliminates the oxygen. The rate at which the animal breathes means they quickly take in the nitrogen and within a minute lose consciousness, leading to anoxia.
This allows groups of animals to be rapidly culled with no unnecessary stress or pain. It is also less stressful for those operating the system and doing the culling. Our NFDS units meet all safety and regulatory requirements.
Livetec’s Foam Generators
Drawing on our decades of experience working on research and development projects, we have evolved the design of our latest foam generators.
Built to the highest standards of efficiency, they generate up to 50m3 (1765 CU ft) of high expansion nitrogen foam per minute. Resulting in a humane culling process.
How we created the NFDS
From our very beginning we have worked in the research and development of high expansion gas-filled foam systems. And, we’re happy to say, we are the industry leaders.
Funded by the UK government, our original work was in collaboration with the University of Glasgow Veterinary School and the Royal Veterinary College, London.
With a livestock industry grant funding our research, we found that exposing animals to an inert gas like nitrogen in a high-expansion foam could be a hugely effective, efficient and humane way to cull livestock.
When using medium expansion air filled foam the cause of death is occlusion of the airway. We have established that with our method, confirmed by post-mortem examinations, the cause of death is the much more humane anoxia.
The benefits of using Livetec’s Nitrogen Foam Delivery System
- Effective solution for use with pigs and all species of poultry. Currently being evaluated for other species
- Can be rapidly scaled up allowing for the processing of a high volume of animals
- Our technology allows a higher volume throughput per shift than any competitor
- Modular and trailer mounted setup means the NFDS can be quickly deployed anywhere in the country
- User friendly and can be run by minimal staff, freeing up essential resources
- Designed to minimise handling, distress and pain to animals
- The NFDS reduces stress on livestock producers and handlers
- The system is flexible and can be used in a range of scenarios from outbreak depopulation to processing
- Maintain the highest levels of biosecurity as it’s easy to clean and disinfect. Allowing for a rapid redeployment
- Compared to firefighting foam it uses considerably less water