AFFORDABLE
BIOGAS!
If
youÕve ever looked into commercial biogas equipment, you know itÕs an expensive
proposition. $40,000 gets you a
basic system, sized for a dairy or a pig farm.
So
where does that leave the little guy? Take a look at this
A lot of quality goodies, for $1095.
This
is a great deal. A digester
cap, and a bunch of great biogas
appliances.
You
get a terrific tankless water heater (2 gpm at a 70 degree temp rise)
ThereÕs
a two burner stove. A rice cooker that will work equally
well as a crock pot. A gas
lamp. And you get all the
fittings, tubing, a pressure gauge and a desulphurizer.
These are special components made exclusively for us. Our digester cap is made from thick,
durable fiberglass. It fits into a
digester body.
You will
find that digester body locally anywhere in the US – it's a common
commercial concrete precast.
Concrete companies make them by the millions, and they even deliver them to you and place them in your
excavation. Prices vary, but
figure about $1000.
ThatÕs
right, you can set up a biogas plant and get all those appliances for less than
$2500.
Our biogas
appliances will take the gas from your digester and heat water, cook meals, or
even light a cabin. A few pounds
of fresh animal manure added to the digester every few days will provide enough
gas to cook all the meals for your family. Grass clippings,
vegetable scraps – your digester will eat them all and pay you
back in fuel!
SO what is
biogas, anyway?
Of all the homemade energy
options, this is the
simplest. Take waste, add water,
put into a container, and wait a few days.
That's right, it's a NATURAL
PROCESS!
Our digesters let you harness
that process, and our biogas appliances let you put the gas to work.
There's an excellent biogas
manual available at the website of
University of Adelaide in
Australia (see http://www.ees.adelaide.edu.au/pharris/biogas/beginners.html)
Author Paul Harris has a nice
definition:
"Biogas
is generated when bacteria degrade biological material in the absence of
oxygen, in a process known as anaerobic digestion. ...(It) is basically a
simple process carried out in a number of steps that can use almost any organic
material as a substrate - it occurs in digestive systems, marshes, rubbish
dumps, (and) septic
tanks..."
Biogas is
60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide. It is flammable.
You can burn it straight out of the digester.
If you are
a farmer, you know that biogas plants have long been available to process your
livestock waste. Problem is, they
cost in the high 5 figures to design and install. Our digester components are so affordable you can experiment
without that huge capital outlay.
If you decide to expand,
just add more digesters and combine their biogas output.
With enough digesters, you
could even power a generator!
How much gas can you make?
This chart gives you an idea.
And here's another great thing to
know. The spent digester fluid has
value as fertilizer – pump it onto your fields and let your crops use it.
Now a
reality check. You need to be a
DIY'er with common sense. Methane
is flammable, it can burn you. If it's confined with oxygen it can
explode. That means you can get
hurt.
You should get informed about
biogas before you start. Google
it, read up about it. If you don't
have the time to do your homework, please don't buy these components and expect
us to educate you.
It's your responsibility to
find out what local regulatory hoops you will have to jump through in order to
set up your biogas plant. It's
also your responsibility to comply with them.
So – ready to start
taking a little more control of your energy destiny? Are you handy with simple tools, and are you willing to get
your hands dirty?
Installation of a biogas
plant will require you to excavate a hole in the ground (hire a backhoe) and
once the concrete precast has been delivered and placed into the hole, to install the gasholder with
some bolts drilled into concrete.
You will need to have a way to collect waste, mix it with water to make
a slurry, and pump or gravity feed it into the digester. You will have tubing emerging from the
digester, delivering raw biogas to wherever it will be burned.
None of this is very
difficult. But it will require
physical labor, use of tools, and the ability to USE YOUR BRAIN! Common sense seems to be a rare
commodity today, now that lawyers and regulators have encouraged us to behave
like sheep. I donÕt do
business with sheep.
But IÕd like to do business
with you.
Russell P. Groves
Flint Hills Diesel &
Biofuel
1065 140th Rd.
Hillsboro, KS 67063
http://www.flinthillsdiesel.com
316-215-2198 cell