a-pro-x.txt
a-prop-x.txt - - - - meth805\txt\pnt Issue#33May/June 1975
gifs of meth8105.zip go with this txt.sanitary codes, most recycling of
human waste is unacceptable to local health authorities. Before you begin
to fume at the "closed minds" remember that sewage-borne disease was a real problem in rural areas until recently. Those "restrictive" laws, in other words, were made for good reason.On the other hand, such will allow individuals,families, and small communities inexpensively recycle their waste into usable fertilizer and/or fuel. 033-026-.jpg
PETER CLARK AND JUDY LANDFIELD:a proposed sanitation and methane production system. your homestead or community may very well depend on your foresight in planning for the disposal of human wastes. This isn't a
matter you can ignore or assign a low priority. Many a thriving commune
has been closed down by the local health department because of it.
The trouble with the flush toilet. Unfortunately, most of the valuable elements in human excreta are water-soluble. Urine often contains more plant nutrients than solid wastes, and these can't be settled out of solution. Instead, they, are leached into a no-man's-land where no crops legally can be grown. Think about it: Why water down wastes for miles in a sewer . . . and then dewater them in a septic tank with the aid of hundreds of feet of leach line only a few yards from the start point. This arrangement makes
little sense. best biological decomposition of disease organisms occurs when the amount of water added to the waste solids is kept low (as is the case with the relatively dry compost privy and the more soggy anaerobic methane-producing digestion process familiar to most. 033-027-.gif
Several alternatives to the flush septic systems. The problem with most is that they require your contact with the excreta before it has been made sanitary. This is neither wise nor legal.
example, the compost privy: the contents must be stirred several times during decomposition so that all the waste materials spend time "cooking" in the middle of the pile. For this process to be legal (i.e., guaranteed safe) the stirring would have to be done how? rather than with a shovel.
A notable exception is the Clivus system (Fig. 1) a large (and expensive) fiberglass chamber-with a vent-arrangement which holds sewage for gradual composting. Instead of dumping human wastes into the water table, the Clivus transforms them to humus by an aerobic process and releases the gases of decomposition into the air. An excellent fertilizer is produced after some two or three years later. The system is installed indoors and
requires very little tending. (For more details on the Clivus, see page 118
Many homesteaders, are more attracted to the idea of treating
wastes by anaerobic digestion. . . a lower-cost, faster-acting process
which produces not only fertilizer but methane gas. In times like these, a
homemade fuel supply which can't be affected by transportation costs or
international politics( a storm in florida )is a very strong appeal.
The problem with the methane sanitation systems that have been proposed
is getting the waste from the toilet to the digester. This step can
make the facility either very expensive (if elaborate machinery is used)
or illegal (if the transfer is done by hand).
In his book Composting (1956 edition available for $5.00 from the
American Public Health Association, 1015 18th Street N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036), H.B. Gotaas suggests eliminating this transfer problem by
placing an outhouse directly over the input pipe to the methane digester
tank (Fig. 2). It's unlikely that such a facility would pass inspection
under the sanitary codes, however, since disease organisms could breed
freely in the chamber's entrance. The formation of unpleasant odor is
another drawback of this design. Also as with any continuous-feed
digestion system care would be needed to prevent waste from
"short-circuiting", passing straight through the digester. Since at
least 30 days are required to guarantee complete destruction of dangerous
microorganisms by an anaerobic culture at temperatures of less than 90ΓΈ F.
the privy's owner would have to be sure that all excreta were treated for
at least that length of time.
Incidentally, if your homestead or community produces a considerable
amount of animal manure, you may find it efficient to set up a
continuous-feed digestion system that incorporates your own wastes . . .
but the input of human sewage would have to be automated, or the human
excreta digested separately. Unless you're raising a large number of
livestock (more than you need for your own food), the generator's gas
yield probably still won't be able to provide for total energy need.
For the ordinary rural household, perhaps a more sanitary (and certainly
more fragrant) approach than the Gotaas design is a batch-load system
which we've described in the Natural Energy Workbook (published in 1974
and available for $3.95 from Visual Purple, Box 979, Berkeley, California
94701). Under this plan, waste is collected in a dry storage toilet (a
55-gallon drum with a seat mounted in the top) which can be installed
indoors (Fig. 3). After each use, sawdust, ashes, or plain dirt is
sprinkled into the barrel to absorb moisture which would otherwise cause
odors and allow the growth of disease organisms. These materials also
balance out the acidity of urine and create an essentially neutral
condition when other organic matter is added later in process. 033-028-.gif
The container is removed from use while less than a quarter full (another
aid to odor control). Since the digester top and the toilet top are
interchangeable parts (see Fig. 4), you simply detach the seat at this
time and mount it on a clean barrel which you install in the bathroom.
No handling of raw excreta is involved in the batch-load process.
Instead, the entire partly filled barrel is moved to the digestion area
and placed in a solar-heated water trough. (See Fig. 5). Green kitchen
garbage, garden clippings, animal manures, and even paper are then added
to the container until it's three-quarters full. (It's important to
include animal wastes to balance the carbon/nitrogen ratio. Chicken manure
is particularly good for this purpose.) Next, the tank is topped with
water . . . which can be left over from rinsing out the previous digester
vat, washing diapers, bathing, or other cleaning. (Most such "gray water"
is, however, sanitary enough to drain directly into the garden.) Finally,
the drum is covered with a airtight lid, its contents are allowed to digest.
For at least a month, the digester's temperature will have to be kept at a minimum of 90F. This like household heating and the warming of water is a "low-grade" heat function for which we recommend the use of solar energy. It would be senseless to warm the tank by means of high-grade processed fuels . especially natural gas, which is, mostly methane. goal of the generating process is to produce fuel, not to consume it.
The 55-gallon drum full of waste should yield between 500 and 1,000 cubic
feet of methane (equal in power to 5-10 gallons of gasoline. In addition,
the sludge left in the tank will be good, usable fertilizer. It won't,
however, smell as fresh as aerobic (dry and aerated) compost, because of
nitrogen compounds that remain in the residue rather than evaporating as
they would in the presence of air.
In practice, then, you might consider pouring the anaerobically digested
slurry onto a pile of leaves, animal bedding, twigs, or other dry
cellulose material and allowing the mass to compost aerobically for a week
or two before you add it to the garden. This approach may help you get
official approval of your system (mainly for psychological reasons,
because the finished fertilizer will no longer look or smell like sewage).
If you know of ecologically sound sanitation systems that have passed
codes, please write us in care of Community/ Memory/Energy, 1545 Dwight
Way, Berkeley, California 94703. We're trying to build a data base of such
information, and welcome pictures, drawings, and descriptions 1.Debbie Rosenberry has this idea been improved upon or refined in the last 30 years?
motherearth.com/library/1975_May_June/A_Proposed_Sanitation___Methane_Product may,18,2005
-no end-
gifs of meth8105.zip go with this txt.sanitary codes, most recycling of
human waste is unacceptable to local health authorities. Before you begin
to fume at the "closed minds" remember that sewage-borne disease was a real problem in rural areas until recently. Those "restrictive" laws, in other words, were made for good reason.On the other hand, such will allow individuals,families, and small communities inexpensively recycle their waste into usable fertilizer and/or fuel. 033-026-.jpg
PETER CLARK AND JUDY LANDFIELD:a proposed sanitation and methane production system. your homestead or community may very well depend on your foresight in planning for the disposal of human wastes. This isn't a
matter you can ignore or assign a low priority. Many a thriving commune
has been closed down by the local health department because of it.
The trouble with the flush toilet. Unfortunately, most of the valuable elements in human excreta are water-soluble. Urine often contains more plant nutrients than solid wastes, and these can't be settled out of solution. Instead, they, are leached into a no-man's-land where no crops legally can be grown. Think about it: Why water down wastes for miles in a sewer . . . and then dewater them in a septic tank with the aid of hundreds of feet of leach line only a few yards from the start point. This arrangement makes
little sense. best biological decomposition of disease organisms occurs when the amount of water added to the waste solids is kept low (as is the case with the relatively dry compost privy and the more soggy anaerobic methane-producing digestion process familiar to most. 033-027-.gif
Several alternatives to the flush septic systems. The problem with most is that they require your contact with the excreta before it has been made sanitary. This is neither wise nor legal.
example, the compost privy: the contents must be stirred several times during decomposition so that all the waste materials spend time "cooking" in the middle of the pile. For this process to be legal (i.e., guaranteed safe) the stirring would have to be done how? rather than with a shovel.
A notable exception is the Clivus system (Fig. 1) a large (and expensive) fiberglass chamber-with a vent-arrangement which holds sewage for gradual composting. Instead of dumping human wastes into the water table, the Clivus transforms them to humus by an aerobic process and releases the gases of decomposition into the air. An excellent fertilizer is produced after some two or three years later. The system is installed indoors and
requires very little tending. (For more details on the Clivus, see page 118
Many homesteaders, are more attracted to the idea of treating
wastes by anaerobic digestion. . . a lower-cost, faster-acting process
which produces not only fertilizer but methane gas. In times like these, a
homemade fuel supply which can't be affected by transportation costs or
international politics( a storm in florida )is a very strong appeal.
The problem with the methane sanitation systems that have been proposed
is getting the waste from the toilet to the digester. This step can
make the facility either very expensive (if elaborate machinery is used)
or illegal (if the transfer is done by hand).
In his book Composting (1956 edition available for $5.00 from the
American Public Health Association, 1015 18th Street N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036), H.B. Gotaas suggests eliminating this transfer problem by
placing an outhouse directly over the input pipe to the methane digester
tank (Fig. 2). It's unlikely that such a facility would pass inspection
under the sanitary codes, however, since disease organisms could breed
freely in the chamber's entrance. The formation of unpleasant odor is
another drawback of this design. Also as with any continuous-feed
digestion system care would be needed to prevent waste from
"short-circuiting", passing straight through the digester. Since at
least 30 days are required to guarantee complete destruction of dangerous
microorganisms by an anaerobic culture at temperatures of less than 90ΓΈ F.
the privy's owner would have to be sure that all excreta were treated for
at least that length of time.
Incidentally, if your homestead or community produces a considerable
amount of animal manure, you may find it efficient to set up a
continuous-feed digestion system that incorporates your own wastes . . .
but the input of human sewage would have to be automated, or the human
excreta digested separately. Unless you're raising a large number of
livestock (more than you need for your own food), the generator's gas
yield probably still won't be able to provide for total energy need.
For the ordinary rural household, perhaps a more sanitary (and certainly
more fragrant) approach than the Gotaas design is a batch-load system
which we've described in the Natural Energy Workbook (published in 1974
and available for $3.95 from Visual Purple, Box 979, Berkeley, California
94701). Under this plan, waste is collected in a dry storage toilet (a
55-gallon drum with a seat mounted in the top) which can be installed
indoors (Fig. 3). After each use, sawdust, ashes, or plain dirt is
sprinkled into the barrel to absorb moisture which would otherwise cause
odors and allow the growth of disease organisms. These materials also
balance out the acidity of urine and create an essentially neutral
condition when other organic matter is added later in process. 033-028-.gif
The container is removed from use while less than a quarter full (another
aid to odor control). Since the digester top and the toilet top are
interchangeable parts (see Fig. 4), you simply detach the seat at this
time and mount it on a clean barrel which you install in the bathroom.
No handling of raw excreta is involved in the batch-load process.
Instead, the entire partly filled barrel is moved to the digestion area
and placed in a solar-heated water trough. (See Fig. 5). Green kitchen
garbage, garden clippings, animal manures, and even paper are then added
to the container until it's three-quarters full. (It's important to
include animal wastes to balance the carbon/nitrogen ratio. Chicken manure
is particularly good for this purpose.) Next, the tank is topped with
water . . . which can be left over from rinsing out the previous digester
vat, washing diapers, bathing, or other cleaning. (Most such "gray water"
is, however, sanitary enough to drain directly into the garden.) Finally,
the drum is covered with a airtight lid, its contents are allowed to digest.
For at least a month, the digester's temperature will have to be kept at a minimum of 90F. This like household heating and the warming of water is a "low-grade" heat function for which we recommend the use of solar energy. It would be senseless to warm the tank by means of high-grade processed fuels . especially natural gas, which is, mostly methane. goal of the generating process is to produce fuel, not to consume it.
The 55-gallon drum full of waste should yield between 500 and 1,000 cubic
feet of methane (equal in power to 5-10 gallons of gasoline. In addition,
the sludge left in the tank will be good, usable fertilizer. It won't,
however, smell as fresh as aerobic (dry and aerated) compost, because of
nitrogen compounds that remain in the residue rather than evaporating as
they would in the presence of air.
In practice, then, you might consider pouring the anaerobically digested
slurry onto a pile of leaves, animal bedding, twigs, or other dry
cellulose material and allowing the mass to compost aerobically for a week
or two before you add it to the garden. This approach may help you get
official approval of your system (mainly for psychological reasons,
because the finished fertilizer will no longer look or smell like sewage).
If you know of ecologically sound sanitation systems that have passed
codes, please write us in care of Community/ Memory/Energy, 1545 Dwight
Way, Berkeley, California 94703. We're trying to build a data base of such
information, and welcome pictures, drawings, and descriptions 1.Debbie Rosenberry has this idea been improved upon or refined in the last 30 years?
motherearth.com/library/1975_May_June/A_Proposed_Sanitation___Methane_Product may,18,2005
-no end-
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