Grober Green

Again, the rain came down yesterday in a hurry and took a good part of my morning to pump it all out of the pits around the tanks.  I spent the rest of my day working on the aesthetics around the middle court of the Corner Farm barns, clearing out weeds.  As for my other project of cleaning up C Barn, we have removed all the flooring that was used for the calves and we are down to the bare concrete.  A few more loads of manure remain but now at least more work can be done to further C Barn’s preparation.  The construction crew placed the heating pipes onto the rebar in the F.O.G. tank.  These pipes are also being used in the digestion tank to keep the digestate at a constant temperature throughout the seasons, to keep the bacteria at their optimal digesting environment.

Today is going to be ‘Interesting Facts about Anaerobic Digestion’ day.

1. The first is about the inner ceiling of the digester tank, which is constructed out of wood.  When I first read this, it struck me as odd, considering the operation is to be around for some time, and wood rots.  The wood acts as an absorbing agent for the unusable byproduct of digestion, sulfur.  The sulfur binds to the wood and is removed from the tank.
2. The process of breaking the manure into methane and carbon dioxide is a 4 step process
   1. Bacteria break down large particles into smaller ones, more manageable for the next step’s bacteria to continue digestion. (Hydrolysis)
   2. Stage 2 involves Acidogenic bacteria to break down the smaller particles into carbon dioxide, hydrogen, ammonia and organic acids. (Acidogenesis)
   3. Stage 3 utilizes acetogenic bacteria to convert the organic acids into acetic acid, ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide.  (Acedogenesis)
   4. In stage 4, methanogens convert all the previous into methane and carbon dioxide. (Methanogenesis)
3. The first anaerobic biodigester was built in Bombay, India in 1859, adn in 1895, the gases released from septic tanks was used to fuel street lamps in Exeter, England.  A great resource in those times for street lamp fuel.

To read more about the various types of anaerobic process and all its applications, visit the following site (where some of this information came from)… click here

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Anaerobic_digestion#encyclopedia