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permaculture - RE: [permaculture] Biogas digester plans

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  • From: Mark Ludwig <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: RE: [permaculture] Biogas digester plans
  • Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2002 19:52:05 -0600


The methane tanks as described in other posts worked well in India when I
was there. It cooked our meals and digested the cattle's dung. A few years
later I learned there was one catch. They tended to explode sending the
steel tank flying into the air and come earth and break after several years
of very useful service. That is because people liked to smoke, could not
read, and no posted signs anyway. It is a technology that needs care and
understanding: Walls, Fences, Safety equipment, signs, to a "code" etc. They
had none of that in India with the expected results.

Harold Waldock
Vancouver Permaculture Network

Perhaps this is one of those engineering challenges that calls for new materials. Here in the midwest we see lots of plastic tanks produced for agricultural use, wouldn't be so hard to make cooking gas type units of nested cylinders that wouldn't degrade (if kept out of the sun) and could have engineered in thin spots or plugs to keep any blow out from becoming a ballistic missile. We are seeing several bladder type units being developed on large farms and attached to micro turbines for electricity generation. This is the only bright side to large scale confinement type dairies IMO.
Mark Ludwig






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