RE: [Fwd: N&O article on hog farm regs (fwd)]

Walker Bennett (WBennett@caldwellspartin.com)
Fri, 15 Oct 1999 16:30:57 -0400

Russ:
About 25 years ago (mid '70s) I studied several methods for
anaerobic digestion for the production of methane ('dungas') as an
alternative energy source. One text was by a S. African hog farmer who had
become energy self-sufficient using a continuous-feed digester (tertiary
waste treatment) that allowed re-use of the effluent as you describe for
washing out the houses and then cycling that and the solids back through the
digester. Remaining sludge after 60-90 days in the digester, was safe for
land application as fertilizer.
The methane produced was sufficient to drive a modified diesel
engine/generator that provided 15KWH of electricity for the entire
operation. With the co-generation laws in the US, the local power company
would be obliged to buy any excess.
This always seemed a no-brainer. Except for the initial outlay to
construct the digester(s), everything else recycles or can be sold.
I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Walker Bennett
wbennett@caldwellspartin.com <mailto:wbennett@caldwellspartin.com>
wabennett@gw.total-web.net <mailto:wabennett@gw.total-web.net>
w_bennett@msn.com <mailto:w_bennett@msn.com>

___________________________________________________________

As for evolution, I have a hard time believing that billions of years
ago two protozoan bumped into each other under a volcanic cesspool and
evolved into Cindy Crawford.-- Robert G. Lee

___________________________________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Russ Bulluck [mailto:lrbulluc@unity.ncsu.edu]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 1999 9:43 AM
To: glenn@smallfarms.com; Sustainable Ag
Subject: Re: [Fwd: N&O article on hog farm regs (fwd)]

Glenn wrote:

> Thanks, Russ:
>
> My concern is that farmers are able to make the economic transition
> successfully. Environmental regulations, while needed and desireable,
> have been used in the past to eliminate or reduce the number of small
>
>
>
>>>>major snip
>

The swine manure that I used for my experiments came from a facility that
was under evaluation. It was basically a waste-water treatment facility
that screened out the solids, and placed the water through primary and
secondary treatment before reusing the water to wash out the houses, and
begin the process again.

Anyway. . .That's my two cents worth (okay maybe a little more). . .Russ

--
Russ Bulluck
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Plant Pathology
North Carolina State University
PO Box 7616
Raleigh, NC  27695-7616


http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/Personnel/Students/webpage.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The soil population is so complex that it manifestly cannot
be dealt with as a whole with any detail by any one person,
and at the same time it plays so important a part in the soil
economy that it must be studied.
--Sir E. John Russell
The Micro-organisms of the Soil, 1923
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






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