The plan is to load the prototype batch digesters later this week. Each batch, (aka. charge), will be a mixture of chopped clover-hay, dry leaves, and a small portion of fresh lama or sheep dung. To prepare, I have processed all the clover and laid it out to rot. The dry leaves were collected about two-weeks ago. I want to mix the dry leaves with the clover at the proper proportions in order to create a carbon-nitrogen ratio of 25-30:1. By my estimates this will be roughly 10kg dry leaves (40:1) and 10kg chopped clover-hay (15:1).

After letting the clover rot overnight and part of Tuesday, I will mix in the dry leaves. This will entice aerobic mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria to break down the leaves and the clover. On Thursday or Friday I plan to add each composting “charge” into each digester and add water until about 4in/10cm from the top of the drum.

Since the aerobic bacteria will be decomposing the plant matter inside the biogas digester, the substrate will become acidic. Therefore, I need to “buffer” the charge by adding lime to the water. This should stabilize the pH of the substrate and set up a friendly environment for the methane forming bacteria that prefer a pH of about 7-8.

When the pH is in the healthy range I will finalize the process by adding the bacterial cultures that have been growing inside the greenhouse since the 14th of September. The cultures include mixes of lama dung and clover, pure sheep and lama dung, pig dung and leaves, and clover and leaves.

Anareobic "Seed" Cultures Inside Greenhouse Since September 14th