[Digestion] Biogas use in Assyria

[keith at journeytoforever.org]

Hello Duncan

<snip>

>As an example, there was quite a flurry of e-mail traffic a few years ago
about a British inventor who had succeeded in running a car on biogas.
Being British myself and old enough to recognise ancient car models that
others might have never heard of, I checked the source. It was a story in,
I think, the Daily Mirror, dating from the Second World War.
>
>Some bright spark and a large bag of digested chicken manure on the roof
of his car (an Austin A30, if I recall correctly). All very well -- but I
wonder what the range was before he had to stop for the bag to refill? And
I wonder what the weight of manure would do to his fuel efficiency when
going uphill? Not to mention the effect of wind drag at any speed above a
crawl. In fact, with the wind behind him and a full bag of gas, he could
probably have switched the engine off - and "sailed" along! In a head
wind, he might well have gone backwards.
>
>Someone had raked up this story and republished it on the Internet,
without a date or attribution, giving the impression of a recent advance
-- and without any mention of the limitations of his "invention". A
typical Internet story, in fact.

:-)

Your memory errs, on several counts.

It was a 1953 Hillman, not an Austin A30. The inventor's name was Harold
Bate, and he didn't put a large bag of digested chicken manure on the
roof, he had a small tank of compressed methane in the boot (trunk).

It wasn't the Daily Mirror, and it didn't date from the Second World War.
The story was published in the National Enquirer of June 1970, titled
"Chicken Manure Fuel", also in Mother Earth News, Issue #8, March 1971,
"Harold Bate and his Marvelous Chicken-powered Car", and MEN Issue #10,
July 1971, "The Marvelous Chicken-Powered Car".

Bate produced biogas from digested chicken manure, compressed the gas and
ran his car on it using a carburettor attachment. His Hillman did 75mph on
biogas. The British Ministry of Transport checked it out and said it
"works perfectly".

We were the ones who raked up the story (all three of them) and put it on
the Internet, in April 2000, complete with dates and attributions, and
photographs.

It's here:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_bate.html
"Put a chicken in your tank"

Not an apocryphal urban myth, all quite true, nothing preposterous about
it. It still raises quite a lot of interest, that page has about a
thousand viewers a month.

Best wishes

Keith Addison
Journey to Forever
KYOTO Pref., Japan
http://journeytoforever.org/


Best regards

Duncan J Martin

Centre Councillor
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: "Alex Marshall" <alexm at Clarke-Energy.com>
To: <digestion at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 10:07 AM
Subject: [Digestion] Biogas use in Assyria


> Hello Mailing Group,
> I am in the process of improving the wikipedia article on anaerobic
digestion. I have improved it enough for it now to be listed as a good
article and am working towards getting it listed as a featured article.
One question that has been raised relates to the widely cited example of
biogas being used to heat bath water in Assyria in the 10th century BC.
I cannot however find the original citation for this or how is was used.
Does anyone know how the Assyrians we said to have capture and utilise
biogas? I cannot find the original source of this information anywhere.
The editorial peer review comments can be seen here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Peer_review/Anaerobic_digestion#R
eview_by_Jeff
> I would appreciate any support in improving the article which is located
here, technical peer reviewing would also be welcome.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_digestion
> Please note I have left RPS and joined Clarke Energy working in a
business development role for Haase AD systems for biowastes and Haase
MBT systems for mixed municipal wastes. My new contact details can be
found below.
> Kind regards
> Alex Marshall
> Product Manager- AD & MBT
> Clarke Energy Ltd
> Head Office, Senator Point, South Boundary Road, Knowsley Industrial
Estate, Liverpool, L33 7RR
> Mobile: 07917 066 242
> Switchboard: 0151 546 4446
> Web: www.clarke-energy.com
> E-mail: alexm at clarke-energy.com