Parsonage Hill Methane Generator

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PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
 The methane generator Alton Eliason and Joe Pelliccio were building to heat Al's greenhouse was still at an experimental stage in 1973. 

As MOTHER EARTH NEWS was completing a special section on alternative energy, we received letters from Alton Eliason and Joe Pelliccio … two energetic inventors who joined forces this past spring to build a methane generator of their own design in Al’s backyard. We thought you’d like to see and hear a little bit about what these knowledgeable blokes are up to.

It all started in March when Al and I met at an organic gardening club gathering–held to discuss the principles of methane production–in Madison, Connecticut.

Now I had the materials and the welding skill to construct a digester but no place to put it … and Al (a gardening buff who wanted to use methane to heat a greenhouse through the winter) had the place but no materials. The two of us just naturally got together.

We built our methane generator from an ordinary 275 gallon fuel oil tank and, since we were undecided as to whether we wanted a batch or continuous-feed digestion system, we planned a unit that could be loaded either way.

One major factor we kept in mind while designing the composting tank was our location. We figured that our low winter temperatures up here in the Northeast might really retard the digestion process (the anaerobic bacteria which produce methane work best when maintained at a constant temperature of 95°F). We didn’t want to try to hold this level of warmth with a heated water jacket, however, because that approach seemed like a lot of extra work and added expense to us. Al and I finally decided that, since the greenhouse would be warmed to a steady temperature by burning the methane anyway, we’d just set the bio-gas plant right inside the building.

  • Published on Nov 1, 1973
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