Thanks. We have some other righteous irons in the fire, also. Whichever one breaks first will ring chimes all over the country when the computer data starts rolling off the printer.
Our ADs can outproduce the competition by 300-to-400% in Biogas per pound of feedstock, and our final BOD/COD levels in the Biosolids and Bioliquid are really low since we have a 24-day hydraulic retention time (HRT) = very thorough digestion. We've also eliminated all the previous complaints with digesters by simply engineering all the historical problems out of the equation. Ergo: We have an el Primo Mousetrap with 426 Hemi performance; totally automated with heuristic control technology and multiple and/or changing feedstock capability. The lack of that will generally stop most other digesters cold. We also closely monitor and can control incoming pH, or we can dump a bad load before it gets into our heat-&-mix section, well ahead of loading the Brew into the digesters.
Swift Meats up in Marshalltown hired a new plant cleaning subcontractor a few years ago, and the flaming jackass put Muriatic acid down all their floor drains to "clean them out". All that acid went directly into their low-tech, covered anaerobic lagoon (..a crappy excuse for a digester..) and killed the entire AD bacteria population. Their lagoon was down for 4 months while they removed the cover, dug out all the accumulated silt, got the basin all cleaned out, replaced the cover, and then restarted it. In the meantime, the County and EPA was busting their chops for $20K+ a month in fines for sending untreated, high BOD-COD plant wastes to the local wastewater treatment plant. Concurrently, even at their lousy 1000-to-1500 BTUs per pound conversion, they lost 4+ months worth of Biogas for their plant boilers; paying for 100% pipeline NatGas at NYMEX rates instead. Take out your Crayon and color the Plant Manager bright purple......
Fortunately, our design is basically "Murphy" and Blithering Idiot-proof. Our CTO has 35 years in AD, and helped design the USDA / EPA Agstar AD systems. The only problem I can see is getting hit with landing gear that has fallen off a subsidized, French EADS 'Air Truck', some errant CIA satellite debris, or a possible meteor strike.
Those odds I can live with. "..Ha ha............
:-)
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