In the interest of maintaining self sufficiency in fuel, EcoGenics has developed and built a methane digester capable of handling 1.5 tons of animal waste and producing varying amounts of "unscrubbed" methane at 540 to 700 BTU per cubic food, within an initial detention time period of 36 to 48 hours.

The digester design is a low-cost semi-underground, cylindrical tank-type installation with baffles. Solar heating, heat injection via immersed coils and structural insulation allow for rapid decomposition of the waste product slurry. The gas product is captured with a series of "bag"-type storage units as an adjunct to the digester. In keeping with the closed-loop design of the facility, the digester supernatants derived from the resulting slurry, are used as nutrients for the algae and ponds located within the Biosphere. Also, the solid fractions of the digester waste stream are suitable for composting or for direct application as a high quality fertilizer \ soil amendment.

The following are several examples of the potential production values of the digester (cubic feet \ lbs.):

Bovine Manure: 3.1 - 4.7
Sewage: 6.0 - 9.0
Pig: 6.0- 8.0
Chicken: 6.0-13.2

All deliveries of waste products to the digester are easily made via an access road adjacent to the facility. Specifically, delivery is made to multiple storage tanks at which time the waste is transformed into a semi-solid slurry, and then pumped directly to the digester. By design, the process is clean, orderly, and efficient.

Weekly deliveries of animal waste to EcoGenics will be acceptable for maintaining an adequate methane gas supply