After several alternating layers of compost and water pipe are installed, the pipe ends are connected to the heat load - in this case a house’s radiant floor system. (Credit: Sam Gorton / smallfarms.cornell.edu)
“Any farmer is well aware that a large heap of fresh manure, livestock bedding and other organic farm residuals will generate substantial heat for several weeks or months”, Sam Gorton, process engineer involved in the research and development of clean technology, explains in his article on Smallfarms.cornell.edu. What is less widely known – and what his article intends to introduce to readers – are the methods for capturing and using this heat while simultaneously producing high quality organic soil amendment. Compost Power, a small network of researchers, farmers, engineers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts has been investigating and experimenting with small farm and homestead-scale systems for extracting useful heat from compost. The Compost Power network is collaborating with experts in the composting community to develop low-cost methods for confidently estimating the heat generation potential of a given compost recipe. Such a method would allow for more rapid and realistic assessment of the viability of compost heat extraction methods. Click here to read his full article…
Compost Aeration With Heat Recovery by Agrilab Technologies
