The Forum

Looks pretty nice, Jed,

Thanks for the pointer...

I'm getting so overwhelmed with forum spammers (recently a flood coming from eastern European addresses -- about 100 to 1 ratio to legitimate users.) that I'm disabling self-registration on the forum. To register, please just send me an email with your desired username and email address. I'll set up...

Here are links to a couple of earlier discussions on this forum about the practicability (and thermodynamics) of compressing gas. http://biorealis.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=201&p=1219&hilit=compress*#p1219 http://biorealis.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=193&p=1104&hilit=compress*#p1104 Given t...

Thanks, Jed. They are doing probably the best work of anybody. Here is a good forum thread, including some questions I asked (I'm "dacroz") http://www.gekgasifier.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1645#post1645 Bottom line, the whole topic turns out to be vastly more complicated than I (and, from much of ...

i ought to write a book on the trials and tribulations (legal and disappointments with the claims of the manufacturer as well as some of my own mistakes) Yeah, I'd read that book -- and add some comments of my own. The flush toilet I used with one of these type of composters (Biolet) was a Sealand....

Thanks, Jed,

I'm in Costa Rica right now, returning to Alaska in April. There are a lot of these digesters around, but I've seen only one that is producing burnable gas. I think there is huge demand/opportunity in teaching/learning how to start them and keep them running.

Wow. Nice to see (read) you here, Matt. Wish I could make it to David's presentation.

After 3 days in the acidogenesis compartment, is the sludge then transferred to the methanogenesis compartment? And is this methanogenesis compartment initially empty? Is the sludge transferred from the acidogenesis tank to the methanogenesis tank via displacement following feeding the reactor afte...

Hi Chet, Good questions. Yeah, Alaska does present a set of unique challenges. Are you aware of any state laws regarding DIY water treatment, outdoor humanure storage, greywater, etc? I'm not familiar with all the details, but here is a link to ADEC wastewater treatment and disposal regulations . Gi...

1) Why can't old waste be used? Can't it? 2) When the manure is mixed with water prior to placing in digester what consistency should be attained? About 6% solids -- like thick whipping cream. 3) Does the AD process need to be dosed with bacteria initially or are the different kinds of bacteria nat...

Approximate heat content of methane (not biogas, but methane) is about 1,000 Btu/cu ft. So 200 CF/day would be about 200,000 Btu/day A small burner on a gas range consumes about 5,000 Btu/Hr (or ~ 5 CF methane). A large burner about 12,500 Btu/Hr. I'm not familiar with small residential scale absorp...

This calculator can give you a ball-park estimate.

Aloha, helenasophia, Did you see the links at the bottom of this page ? The one labeled Construction will take you to a drawing that has parts called out on it -- as well as construction photos. That said, however, I have moved beyond the design described here. After building it and using it for a f...

Whoa. A Nathan sighting!

Thanks for the ping, Nathan. I have tons of new stuff I could by putting up here, but...

How goes it on your end? (I still think your agwaste -> H2 idea was worth pursuing).

Most interesting, Nathan. Thanks for the pointer.
(Nice to see you here!)

regarding drinking water power requirements

Thanks for the pointer to the Berkey filter, blimpyway. Interesting.

(In case there is any confusion, the drum biofilter described here is not just for drinking water, but will handle up to 50-60 GPD.)

Good question. Probably the most important thing is to be sure that you have a good live population of methanogens. And enough buffering capacity to keep the pH from dropping if you overload it.

re my "where did you see it question: I saw it on this site... someplace. Now that I'd like to point you to the thread, I can't find it Hah. I found it -- thanks to Mathew's intervening post. Searching for his earlier posts I stumbled across it in this thread . Even tho methanol is toxic to organic ...

...am thinking there's got to be a better use for converting this to energy that I can use... I agree -- which is the motivation for developing a couple of products, including the lab-scale digester shown in the attached pic, and a how-to construction manual to go with it. (A work in progress...) W...

Hi Ben,

Thanks for posting that. Most interesting. I am also most interested in the small-scale ORC technology. Do you know if any of those are on the market yet?