Biogas from waste mash ???

pasul

Hi guys , i have a crazy idea in my head is it possible to make some biogas from waste mash.

I produce about 60 gallons per day ,3 days per week , it is mostly corn and malted barley , farmers doesn't need it, for composting is a little bit too much and the septic tank does not handle it well :D

Did everybody try to make something useful from the waste maybe biogas and heat the still with it :)

Thanks for all your advices :)

grim

No, but I burn heads in my oil fired boiler. It's a small % of the fuel, but runs fine.

pasul

Nice grim i use heads as a firestarter for woodstove and window cleaner :D :D

CothermanDistilling

no one keeps chickens where you are?

zymurgybob

Our spent barley malt goes to a sheep farmer. Her sheep just love it.

richard

The local farmer fattens up cattle for the market in record time with it.... It is highly sought after

pasul

I am from slovenia and the local farmers are to lazy to pick it up, i guess they don't want free feed for the live stock :/

Anro

@pasul it is possible to use the spent grain in an anaerobic digester, however you might need a special digester design to get the most gas from the grains. I found a study that was done on brewery spent grain:

ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF BREWERS' SPENT GRAIN IN A NOVEL PLUG FLOW REACTOR SYSTEM (PDF)

that you can look at. It is quite a process to optimize the process in order not to get inhibition of the microbes through some components in the grains. It is much easier to digest the stillage because it has no solids. This also requires optimum digester design to get the smallest digester with the best gas yield.

pasul

Wow thanks Anro that's very interesting reading . i'm figuring out that biogas is too much trouble to make , it is easier to separate solids and then dry in the sun and make some mash briquettes :D . They burn pretty good :P

zymurgybob

Sounds good, but I'm betting how good is way dependent on what kind of grain. I can see it compacting way better with fine-ground corn than with a properly milled-for-sparging barley malt.

grim

Mix it with sawdust and let it compost into topsoil?

Good topsoil out here like $100 a yard delivered for small quantities - better profit than biogas or feed.