<div>Dear Douglas,</div>
<div>there are many economically useful plants that tolerate about 4% saliniy in the root zone. I can only name the tropical ones. They are coconut, casuarina (timber), Thespesia populnea ((timber), Salvadora oleoides (oilseed), a number of mangrove species (timber, firewood), many plants belonging to the family chenopodiaceae (leafy vegetables), etc. If you used salt water for irrigation in a normal field, the water evaporates and the salt accumulates in the soil. The increased salinity ultimately kills the plants. But if these plants are planted in raised beds offering good drainage of water, the excess salt is washed away with every irrigation and the plants survive. I have demonstrated that these plants can even be irrigated with untreated seawater. One uses so much sea water for irrigation, that a part of it drains out of the beds and flows back into the sea.</div>
<div>Yours</div>
<div>A.D.Karve </div>
<div><br><br> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 8:02 AM, David <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:david@h4c.org">david@h4c.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><font face="Georgia"><br>Douglas,<br></font><br>On 1/4/2012 7:15 AM, Douglas Renk wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:rgb(255,255,255);FONT-FAMILY:times new roman,new york,times,serif;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);FONT-SIZE:12pt">
<div><span>Has anyone demonstrated the effect of introducing marine anaerobes highly toleratant of sodium into glycerin by-product enhanced digesters? Sodium may still be of concern for land application, but perhaps the digester could remain stable. I recall some studies about 20 years ago with Chynoweth at IGT for inoculum suited for sea kelp digestion. </span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>Any experience with this may greatly help our biogas industry with co-digestion of biodiesel glycerin<var></var>. I find the industry resistant to move away from sodium hydroxide catalyst.</span></div></div></blockquote>
<br>In a study about the digestion of (apparently salty) Korean food wastes ("Effect of particle size and sodium ion concentration on anaerobic thermophilic food waste digestion" Water Sci Technol. 2000;41(3):67-73), Kim et al found that <br>
<br>
<blockquote>...methane gas production [was] affected by various sodium ion concentrations. The reaction was not affected until 5 g/L of sodium ion was added into the test reactor. The volume of methane gas produced from the test reactors decreased gradually according to the sodium ion concentrations applied when more than 5 g/L of sodium ion. In case of 20 g/L of sodium ion, the methane gas production was reduced to about 50% of theoretical gas volume.<br>
</blockquote><br>Of course, as you imply, a good deal depends on the population in the digester, but given that glycerin is so easily acidified, that it is more easily produces stable digestion when other materials are added to the digester, and that it must in any case be fed slowly, it seems unlikely that the first problem one would encounter would be sodium ion concentration. In other words the circumstances that lead to stable digestion would tend likewise to reduce sodium concentration in the digester, except perhaps if it is fed kelp or a similar high-sodium co-digestate. As far as Wayne's question about ag use of sodium-"enriched" effluent, that I would think would depend primarily on the circumstances. Sodium would be a problem particularly in drier climates and soils.<br>
<br><br>d. <br><font color="#888888">
<div>-- <br>
<div><span style="FONT-SIZE:110%">David William House<br></span>
<div style="PADDING-LEFT:3em;FONT-SIZE:80%">"The Complete Biogas Handbook" <code><a href="http://www.completebiogas.com/" target="_blank">www.completebiogas.com</a></code><br><em>Vahid Biogas</em>, an alternative energy consultancy <code><a href="http://www.vahidbiogas.com/" target="_blank">www.vahidbiogas.com</a><br>
<br></code></div><code>
<div style="PADDING-LEFT:2em">"Make no search for water. But find thirst,<br>And water from the very ground will burst."
<div style="PADDING-LEFT:2em;FONT-SIZE:80%">(Rumi, a Persian mystic poet, quoted in <em>Delight of Hearts</em>, p. 77) <br><br><a href="http://bahai.us/" target="_blank">http://bahai.us/</a></div></div></code></div></div>
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<br><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>***<br>Dr. A.D. Karve<br>Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)<br><br><br>