The Patch-Whitley Methane Generator

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THE FILTER

We plan to place the gas filter shown here in the line

running from the 20,322-gallon digester to the collection tank. "A" in this schematic is the one-inch hose coming from the digester. It feeds into the bottom of "B", a 50gallon barrel cut in half and partially filled with water and lime (2/3 water and 1/3 lime). All the lime is placed inside the smaller, seven-inch-high inner tank, "L". "K" is a grate of 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth which rests on top of "L" and snugly fits inside "E" which is made of two 30-gallon drums welded together. "E" has no bottom. Instead, it sits down over both "K" and "L" and-from the grate up-is about half filled with metal filings and shavings. "E" can be pulled up out of "B" as necessary, so that the lime in "L" and the metal shavings above "K" can be checked and replaced. "D" is the water level in "L" and "C" is a hole drilled in the side of "B" so that any excess water in the barrel can run out. "H" is a one-inch hose from the filter to the collector tank and "I" and "J" are both shut-off valves. "G" is a final filter of old rags and gunnysacks containing calcium chloride. In operation, gas produced by the 20,322-gallon waste digester will enter the bottom of this filter and bubble up through lime, iron filings, and the calcium chloride in the rags. The lime should remove excess moisture, the filings will trap acids and more moisture, and the calcium chloride will act as the final moisture filter.

THE COLLECTOR

Our collector consists of "A", an old water tank

eight feet in diameter and ten feet tall. It contains another old tank (the actual gas collector, shown here as "B") that is "upsidedown", seven feet in diameter and ten feet, four inches in height. A third tank, "C", is welded into the bottom of "A" to form an empty room"K"-six feet across and ten feet high. "D" in this schematic is a 30-gallon drum filled with iron to act as a counterweight, "E" is the steel cable that attaches the weight to "B", and "F" points out the guides that "steer" the collector tank as it is forced up by the gas it traps. "I" is an overflow for the water seal "J" formed by "A" and "C". In operation, methane is forced by nine inches of water pressure from the digester through hose "L" into the collector where it's trapped by upside-down tank "B" and the seal created by the "ring" of water between "A" and "C". Once "B" has filled with enough gas to float the tank upward as far as it can go, the methane will begin to bubble out around its lower edge. That's the signal for us to connect "L" to a compressor (if we haven't done so already) and pump the gas into pressure storage tanks. When gas first began flowing through "L" from our generator to the collector, we found that water tended to condense in the hose and cause problems. So we installed "M", a simple water escape that lets the accumulated water out but keeps the gas in. This is a schematic of the system we use to fill our pressure storage tanks with methane. "A" is the one-inch hose- from the collector. "B" is our compressor. "C", "D", "E", and "F' are high pressure hoses. "G" is a pressure gauge and two-way high pressure valve. (When one tank is full, the two-way valve can be switched to fill a second tank. Then, while that container is charged, the first hose can be attached to a third tank, etc., so that the compressor never has to be shut down until all the collected gas is transferred to pressure storage.) "H" is a high pressure regulator tank and "I", "J", "K", "L", and "M" in this drawing are pressure storage tanks. Each "X" marks a high pressure shut off.

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