Re: DIG-L: RE: exploding digesters?

["West Stewart" <philbio@hotmail.com>]

Dear John and Phil:

The exploding digester story is alive here in the Philippines. It is an old 
story coming from a digester in its 10th year or so, that was not operating 
well. In addition, the farmer had built over the digester (with a new pig 
house).  There was build up of gas in the digester (concrete vessel with 
concrete cover), and at some point, the pressure caused the lid to 'fly 
off'. (I think that is an exaggeration.)

While you may also have visions of flying pigs,  a la Monty Python, the 
facts were more cold and hard.  No major damage to the farmer, just major 
damage to a local industry that was already negative on AD in the late 
1980s. The legacy is a long one, and we still hear the story on marketing 
trips in Luzon today.

West Stewart
PhilBIO


>From: "Philip D. Lusk" <plusk@pipeline.com>
>To: "WHITE John" <John.White@state.or.us>
>CC: <digestion@crest.org>
>Subject: DIG-L: RE: exploding digesters?
>Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 11:32:07 -0500
>
>Dear John and Group,
>
>Delving back into the logs of failed farm digesters in the US, I have not
>found any references to "exploding digesters."  I would council that any
>individual having a direct reference to such a system have it carefully
>documented and not spread rumors or hearsay about such.  Goodness knows, 
>the
>digester industry has enough negatives to overcome w/o added more issues to
>overcome to the pile...
>
>However, if anyone does have documentation concerning "exploding 
>digesters,"
>it should certainly be brought to our attention!
>___________
>Philip D. Lusk
>Resource Development Associates
>240 Ninth Street, NE
>Washington, DC  20002-6110
>tel:    202.546.6283
>fax:   202.546.3518
>web:  www.biogasworks.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: WHITE John [mailto:John.White@state.or.us]
>Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 4:44 PM
>To: plusk@pipeline.com
>Subject: exploding digesters?
>
>Hi Phil,
>You may have noticed some recent posts to the Digester list saying that
>accidents and explosions were a cause of disenchantment with early farm
>digesters built in the 70s.  I don't recall reading anything about that in
>your Casebook.  Do you have any information about the risk of digesters
>exploding?  I thought this was a non-issue due to the dilute nature of the
>methane until reading these recent posts.
>
>Regards,
>
>
>John G. White
>Oregon Office of Energy
>625 Marion St., NE, Suite 1
>Salem, Oregon 97301-3742
>john.white@state.or.us
>
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