[Digestion] Solar Heated Batch Bladder Digester for Poultry

[Anand Karve]

Dear Steven,
In shops selling material for building construction, you would get
plastic water tanks. I have seen tanks of even 50, 000 litres (about
11,000 gallons). They can be kept above ground and you can use them as
digesters. Just build a plastic greenhouse-like structure or a
geodesic dome around this tank for passive solar heating. The fecal
matter of all animals contains methanogenic archaea, so there won't be
any need to use a culture. One time filling is O.K. I have seen that
large tanks filled with cattle dung plus other digestible matter yield
a steady output of biogas continuously for 6 months to a year. Ammonia
should not interfere with the process of digestion. It would go out of
the system along with the biogas. This is how the land fills work.
Please keep us informed of the progress of your project.
Yours
A.D.Karve

lOn Sun, May 22, 2011 at 10:43 PM, Steven Bolgiano
<steven at planetfound.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
> I am a brand new subscriber to this terrific list.
> We are a non-profit community based group on the Eastern Shore Maryland
> "Delmarva" peninsula of the U.S.
> Our main focus is the poultry farm water pollution of our abundant waterways
> in the region, with the affects of year long outdoor storage, and over
> application, runoff of raw chicken manure to the farmlands.
>
> As mentioned already in this list, just one of the challenges with poultry
> is that it is harvested from the chicken barns only five times a year, which
> complicates a plug flow digester schedule and management logistics.
>
> Our plan is as follows:
> 1) Run digestion process as a batch process, loading one time and then after
> completed, empty with a separation to utilize liquid phosphate, and
> semi-solids nitrogen materials as a more suitable agricultural or consumer
> fertilizer.
>
> 2) Use "bladder bag" containments ... 12 feet wide, 23.5 feet long, 3 feet
> high (6,250 gallons). When manure is harvested (called "crusting out"), it
> is transported from barn to adjacent "nest" (groups) of bladder bags, ....
> instead of  piled in open field or under a shed roof until spring. Before
> each crusting out of barns it is assumed that the Batch will have completed
> and can be emptied and ready for the next batch field.
>
> 3) Each Bladder Bag is set into a shallow excavation with only 6 inches of
> bag above ground surface. Each bag system is covered with low profile
> "greenhouse" providing passive heat. And we have internal water lines that
> are connected to solar water heat collectors and solar powered pumps to
> provide internal heat to the bladder bag.
> We have already built a mini prototype of this, and have tested it with only
> water in the tanks, no slurry yet. Starting with well water at 15 C, the
> time it takes to raise the tank temperature to a 40C is quite remarkable.
> The passive solar heat from the "greenhouse tent" maintains a daytime heat
> on the exterior of 44C - 54C.
> Our expectation after some refinements and more  insulation, to maintain
> tanks at thermophilic levels with solar alone, for most of the year in our
> region.
>
>
> We are very new to AD. We do have the ability to consult with our local
> University agricultural science departments. But as it seems in many places,
> both information on batch designs and poultry manure use is scarce.
> So my questions to the group:
> 1) Batch digester info in general
> 2) Innoculums, what to use, how to get them started ... and suggested
> minimum percentage of a batch load .
> 3) Ammonia toxicity as it pertains to poultry and batch digesters.
> 4) Any comments on our design.
>
> Some of the limiting factors of our region:
> 1) We have a very low water table, so in ground constructions with concrete
> are problematic.
> 2) Federal limitations for lands determined to fall under "wetlands"
> regulations cover most of our peninsula
> 3) Small to medium sized poultry farm's financial resources and method of
> operation are not compatible with existing commercial systems.
>
> Thank you so much in advance for any feedback. We have photos and three
> dimensional renderings o our progress. And will be willing to share that
> information with anyone who would like to help our project out.
>
> Cheers,
> Steven
>
> --
> Steven Bolgiano
> Executive Director
> Planet Foundation Ltd.
> 443.235.1344
>
>
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> for more information about digestion, see
> Beginner's Guide to Biogas
> http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/
> and the Biogas Wiki http://biogas.wikispaces.com/
>
>



-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

*Please change my email address in your records to: adkarve at gmail.com *