Re: DIG-L: RE: exploding digesters?

[Paul Harris <paul.harris@adelaide.edu.au>]

The Roseworthy digester has a similar story, the top lifted about 12mm
when some well meaning person closed all the outlets (the brass safety
valve had to be opened with a heavy hammer some time later, so was
presumably not operational at the time) but it was not noticed untill
the reason for no gas production was investigated (ie not very
spectacular). I have learnt a couple of lessons from this episode - NO
brass and at least one liquid vent WITHOUT a tap (this is sure to
attract attention when the liquid outlet gets blocked).

I have also heard of a pig farmer who destroyed a shed of pigs by
welding near the manure collection ditch, he caused a fire though (not
an explosion).

West Stewart wrote:
> 
> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >DIGESTION List Sponsors, Archive and Information
> >http://www.crest.org/renewables/digestion-list-archive
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> >Beginners Tour of Biogas
> >http://WWW.roseworthy.adelaide.edu.au/~pharris/biogas/beginners
> 
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-- 
Mr. Paul Harris,                                 Dept. of Agronomy &
Farming Systems,
ph +61 8 8303 7880,fx +61 8 8303 7979            Roseworthy Campus,
http://www.roseworthy.adelaide.edu.au/~pharris   The University of
Adelaide,
E-Mail: paul.harris@adelaide.edu.au              ROSEWORTHY, South
Australia, 5371
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