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**Matthew Jones** · 10-12-2009, 10:09 AM

I like that. I gotta lotta brush.

Thanks for posting that.

Matt

**theremart** · 10-13-2009, 01:49 AM

Originally posted by Matthew Jones View Post

I like that. I gotta lotta brush.

Thanks for posting that.

Matt

What I love about it is the simplicity of the system. Once you have done your work you get a year and a half of energy from the pile. I am thinking of experimenting with garden hose thru a compost pile testing for water temperatures. The methane production also interests me thinking of getting myself a tractor inter tube and see if I could fill it up.

I am thinking.... could one use screeded paper instead ..... This one looks to be a winner!

**Vortex** · 10-13-2009, 04:01 AM

I did not understand the methane aspect, if it continued to produce methane
for a 1 1/2 years also or not.
It was sealed up, the methane container, so how was it to continue to
obtain feed stock to keep producing methane?

**rileydad48** · 10-13-2009, 05:46 AM

Originally posted by theremart View Post

Hot Water and Methane, plus Compost, from Wood Chips? | Green-Trust.Org

This is just incredible.

Hi all... it"s not incredible... but good solid logic... Ever drive by a landfill and see fire coming from the pipes sticking out of big piles of trash and garbage.. They burn 24-7 all year long even on the coldest winter days..
If you can take the smell and are far enough from your neighbors, this would be an excellent way to go.. Makes me wish I had acreage .. I would think that you could use just about anything that is bio-degradeable as a source for decomposition. And there again...capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity, might not make it smell like you're raising pigs. I wonder could it be done in a semi closed container..??? Like a small farm silo..??

Thanks for the link... very nice find..
Paul

**Matthew Jones** · 10-13-2009, 10:14 AM

I did not understand the methane aspect, if it continued to produce methane
for a 1 1/2 years also or not.
It was sealed up, the methane container, so how was it to continue to
obtain feed stock to keep producing methane?

I was trying to find more on it but the methane is a pretty easy thing to trap. Its so heavy it is not trying to get out of the pile.
So they container is not sealed, it just provides a void top and bottom.

When the compressor is hooked to it, it draws the gas out of the pile.

As far as methane stinking. That just depends on the material you use to produce it. Of course human or animal waste will give an oder, but I would suspect pine branch's or something along that line to be more pleasant.
"If all fails add rose pedals"... LOL. Even dairy methane production does not stink real bad. Most of the time the gas is pumped through activated charcoal filters. There is a big farm in Pennsylvania that produces close to a megawatt of power from his dairy operation.

am thinking.... could one use screeded paper instead ..... This one looks to be a winner!

Paper is semi digested material. It may not produce an organism naturally in nature to rot and produce gas. Where as tree branch may already be harboring is own bacteria for rotting, and if not defiantly the humus in forest is full of it. But then again they may be one and the same.

I also heard of a device that was basically a large plastic pipe in the ground and you could fill it with all your food scraps. After some time you could start pulling methane from it. There was trick for filling it though with out opening it to the environment.

This is good stuff.
Matt

**wpage** · 10-13-2009, 10:34 AM

Great Stuff...

Very interesting. Any images?

**theremart** · 10-13-2009, 12:14 PM

RE: images

Originally posted by wpage View Post

Very interesting. Any images?

if you goto the first link I posted, and goto the bottom of that page there are several awesome links. The readers digest one and the wiki links were what impressed me, this is a tried and working system.

**Vortex** · 10-14-2009, 01:57 AM

The methane production tank is filled once and sealed. Methane collection
is from the sealed tank and not from the large compost pile,
as I understand the article below.
This tank making methane does so without access to oxygen, it is sealed.
Normal composting requires oxygen ...
Jean Pain: France's King of Green Gold

"Buried inside the 50-ton compost, he says, is a steel tank with a capacity of four cubic metres. It is three-fourths full of the same compost, which has first been steeped in water for two months. The tank is hermetically sealed, but is connected by tubing to 24-truck-tyre inner tubes"

**Matthew Jones** · 10-14-2009, 10:02 AM

Oh well if thats the case I don't need the Hot water. LOL
It might need the heat on the outside of the tank though.

I guess in the film he was compressing from the inter-tubes into solid tanks.

We'll see. I got brush piled from about 2 acres of clearing and I got more clearing to do. reading this paper.

Methane Digesters for Fuel Gas and Fertilizer - ToC

Matt

**theremart** · 10-14-2009, 04:34 PM

Nice Link!

Thanks for that link, it has very excellent info on how to build one. It starts to make sense now, he puts the tank in the center of the pile to use the heat gained from the compost working.

From reading this paper one could then feed algae with this system and grow oil from the algae.. I think I want to experiment with both the compost and the algae. I wonder where I can get 8" wide clear tubes to grow algea... might consider just trying a kids swimming pool..

Originally posted by Matthew Jones View Post

Oh well if thats the case I don't need the Hot water. LOL
It might need the heat on the outside of the tank though.

I guess in the film he was compressing from the inter-tubes into solid tanks.

We'll see. I got brush piled from about 2 acres of clearing and I got more clearing to do. reading this paper.

Methane Digesters for Fuel Gas and Fertilizer - ToC

Matt

**Matthew Jones** · 10-14-2009, 07:07 PM

All kinds of clear tubes in different sizes up to 14 inch in diameter.
Acrylic Tube, 1/8" Wall

Plumbing supply places can also get clear PVC in various grade but they tend to be higher than the link above.

Matt

**Go Diesel USA** · 10-14-2009, 07:58 PM

Very Interesting link! Thanks!

**Karl_Palsness** · 10-14-2009, 08:59 PM

If you are interested in this, then you might want to look at this.

Another Kind of Energy

Just one of the many links I have on home heating...this is one of the ways I am looking into heating my home. It would be quite simple as I live in farmland and to get a load of green clippings from the local farmer would be very easy to get. Problem is where to do it...

Karl

**Matthew Jones** · 10-14-2009, 11:16 PM

On top of a sealed rubber flat roof.....

Matt

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