The Patch-Whitley Methane Generator

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EDITORS NOTE: Ram Bux Singly L. John Fry and other experimenters have found that manure mixed with straw "as it comes from the barn" may not always produce the optimum amounts of methane. It may sometimes be necessary to add manure, straw, leaves, spoiled hay, or other material to bring the original waste nearer the 30-to-1 carbon/nitrogen ratio which is ideal for maximum methane production. See Ram Bux Singh's or L. John Fry's books on the subject. In addition, although Mr. Patch doesn't mention it here, you must always remember that homemade methane can be just as explosive as the natural gas commercially supplied by utility companies. For this reason, you must always take every precaution possible to guarantee that any methane you produce is completely under your control at all times. A flame guard or trap should be installed in all lines that carry methane to a gas stove, refrigerator, furnace, or other appliance in which the gas is to be burned. And the first week's production of methane should not be ignited. It may contain enough oxygen to be dangerously explosive. Bleed your digester's initial production off into the atmosphere, then, whenever you're starting up the generation of gas. There will still be plenty of "safe" methane for you to use after this purging process.)

THE DIGESTOR

Our 20,322-gallon digester was filled half full of cow, pig, and turkey manure just as it came from the barn, mixed with plenty of hay and straw (some of the cow manure was from a feedlot and some from old cows that had been wintered on hay). Enough water was then run in on top of this manure-straw combination to fill the digester tank three-quarters full.

"A" in this drawing is the 20,322-gallon tank. "B" is an auger for stirring the waste, if necessary. "C" and "D" are filler caps that are sealed after the digester is loaded. "E" is the one-inch hose that carries the generator's gas production through a filter and on to a collecting tank. "F" is an eight-inch pipe through which the digester can be loaded or-with the aid of the pumps on a "honey wagon"-through which the generator can be unloaded (this allows the digester to be recharged without closing it down). "G" shows the four one-inch pipes that carry hot water to warm the slurry to its optimum digestion temperature during the winter. "H" is an eight-inch drain that empties into a 2,887-gallon steel tank buried in the ground. Spent slurry can be held in the buried tank until we're ready to haul it away in a honey wagon.

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