HAMPTON, VA — Pancopia presented results from its commercial-scale FreshFlush™ field trial at the 2026 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, highlighting the potential for improved nitrogen management to benefit both barn conditions and swine productivity.
The research poster, Initial Field-Cycle Evaluation of Biological Nitrification Treatment of Recycled Flush Water in a Commercial Swine Finishing Barn, reported results from a commercial finishing farm where one barn received FreshFlush-treated recycled flushwater while four barns continued receiving conventional lagoon water.
FreshFlush reduced ammonia-N in the recycled flushwater by an average of 73.1%, from 493.4 to 132.6 mg/L. The FreshFlush barn also outperformed the four control barns across every major rate-of-gain and closeout production measure reported in the study:
The treated barn generated approximately 14% greater revenue per pig using a fixed live-weight value of $0.70 per pound. Later monitoring also found approximately 50% lower barn-air ammonia concentration in the FreshFlush-treated barn compared with a control barn.
“These results are important because we did not see improvement in just one measure. Mortality, growth, sale weight and feed conversion all moved in the same direction while FreshFlush substantially reduced the ammonia being returned to the barn,” said Bill Cumbie, P.E., founder and CEO of Pancopia.
FreshFlush uses biological nitrification to condition recycled lagoon water before it returns to the barn. The treatment converts ammonia nitrogen into oxidized forms while lowering alkalinity and pH, significantly reducing the amount of ammonia available to volatilize into barn air. The system operated within the farm’s existing lagoon-flush infrastructure without requiring changes to normal barn management.
The research poster was authored by William Cumbie, P.E., Pancopia LLC; Dr. Allan Schinckel, Purdue University; Dr. Mark Estienne, Virginia Tech; and Dr. Matias Vanotti, formerly of USDA Agricultural Research Service.
The work is now moving into an expanded validation phase. Pancopia LLC has been awarded a $650,000 USDA NIFA SBIR Phase II grant to conduct additional commercial-scale testing of FreshFlush across multiple production cycles and further quantify its effects on swine productivity and farm economics.
About Pancopia LLC
Pancopia LLC turns wastewater into a productive resource. Born from NASA-backed water-recycling research, the Hampton, Virginia-based company develops patented technologies that accelerate natural biological processes to recover water and nutrients while improving farm performance. Its flagship FreshFlush™ system treats recycled lagoon water before it returns to livestock barns, helping producers improve animal productivity, air quality and resource efficiency. Pancopia’s technology has advanced from laboratory research to full-scale commercial-farm deployment with support from NASA, USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy. Pancopia is built around a simple idea: environmental improvement should pay for itself.
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