[Digestion] An apology...and an excuse

[Steve Verhey]

There's been talk in the media here about what constitutes a good apology, 
so I know this one will be  of low quality, but I am sorry for asking such a 
simple question. I do have access to reasonable online sources, but not a 
good physical library, and I don't actively work in this field -- I'm just 
interested in it, and in energy issues in general. I'm pretty sure it would 
take me longer than 10 minutes to answer my question. My background is in 
molecular biology and biochemistry, not all that useful. This relatively 
quiet forum seemed a reasonable place to ask the question, which I didn't 
think was off-topic.

That said, the question was my ignorant response to the difficulty/large 
uncertaintly in estimating methane output, which must be mostly due to 
digester-to-digester variability of microbial communities. My impression is 
that AD is done with whatever organisms happen to be present, but it seemed 
to me that (as some products claim to do with composting) it might be 
possible to inoculate with a particularly enthusiastic microbial community, 
or even engineer better methanogens. Apparently this is either not possible, 
or is not considered worth thinking about.

Thanks for your patience,

Steve

>From: finstein at envsci.rutgers.edu
>To: "Duncan Martin" <duncanjmartin at eircom.net>
>CC: "Steve Verhey" <verheys at hotmail.com>, digestion at listserv.repp.org
>Subject: Re: [Digestion] Calculating methane production
>Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 07:32:55 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Duncan -
>
>As you say (in effect): one man's junk (one microbe's metabolic waste) is
>another man's treasure (another microbe's substrate). But questioning the
>complexity of the metabolic web terminating in methane was not what
>started the thread. Rather, the question asked was - how to estimate
>methane production.
>
>Mel
>
>
> > Come on lads!!
> >
> > I might speak only for myself but I think it's an abuse of a forum like
> > this
> > for folk to use it as a replacement for ten minutes work in a 
>half-decent
> > public library or on the internet. I'm more tolerant when the enquiry
> > comes
> > from somewhere remote. But I don't think the USA qualifies!
> >
> > For info, Steve, yes there is a mass of research and "a particularly 
>good
> > methanogenic microbial community" is characterized by a great diversity 
>of
> > species, very many of which are not methanogens. Now, go read!
> >
> > Fraternally yours
> >
> > Duncan J Martin
> >
> > Chair
> > Republic of Ireland Centre
> > Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
> >
> > ================================
> > CONTACT DETAILS
> > Duncan J Martin, PhD, CEng, CSci, MIEI, MCIWM, MIChemE
> > 24 Townsfield, Cloughjordan, N Tipperary, Ireland
> > Mobile: +353 86 8377 906
> > Home: +353 505 42087
> > Email: duncanjmartin at eircom.net
> > ================================
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Steve Verhey" <verheys at hotmail.com>
> > To: <finstein at envsci.rutgers.edu>; <digestion at listserv.repp.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 11:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Digestion] Calculating methane production
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Presumably not all organisms in an anaerobic environment are
> >> methanogens.
> >> Is
> >> there research on what a particularly good methanogenic microbial
> >> community
> >> looks like? Maybe it's even possible to make an inoculum that would get
> >> things started off in the right direction?
> >>
> >> Steve Verhey, Ph.D
> >> Biologist at Large
> >> Ellensburg, WA USA
> >>

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