Methane Digester
Overview
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen, used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy.
Details
Methane digesters are an old idea. Take cow or other animal manure, add water and let it compost a bit a closed container. Methane is given which can be collected and compressed to use a a fuel. The remaining liquid can be sold as fertilizer any fiberous material can be dried and sold and bedding material. Kevin Maas is a guy in Oregon who has built a small business around power generation using methane digesters [1]. The article quotes $3 million to get a digester-based power generator up and running.
Probably looking into George Chan's (connected with zeri.org) Dream Farm and Dream Farm 2 pages. Chan's idea is full waste management integration, not just energy. Waste from pigs becomes solid compost, liquid feed for algae and fish, and gas for energy. Jeff Buderer has worked extensively on documenting this.
Links
- Journeytoforever - John Fry has been at it for a long time - [2]
