Not to be facetious about the bag lady in the prior post, but there has to be 
some practical alternative. Biogas is said to be too expensive to compress. The 
comparison was made to LPG for transportation. Like most one line conclusions 
it may or may not be though,  ... In different circumstances. What amount of 
energy per unit atmosphere of compression is expended? Is it a linear increase 
with increasing pressure ? Lets have that plot then talk about practicality of 
transport per various volumetric requirements  of the rest of the 99%, like the 
lady carrying the bag so, perhaps she is not left doing so, so to speak.
I have heard about an intrepid country inventor, Harold somebody, who used his 
refrigerator compressor to generate about 200 psi (12+ atmospheres) off from 
his chicken manure,  to run his car around his town.  What is a practical 
minimum compression for transport and say week long domestic use? Would an 
extended tank -in-tank biogas digestor, properly ballasted and suspended by 
ropes on a basic windlass, generating up to say 15 psi, sufficient to contain 
the required volume in an inner tube? (Where is Boyle when we need him! ) . 
Even the simple wrapping of sealed plastic bags filled with biogas, with 
ubiquitous inner tube tire rubber strips can generate substantial compressive 
forces...  . It all comes down to time and effort versus cost and time of 
alternatives---assuming of course that the so called beneficiary wants it and 
can function as a community member pursuing it. 
Having lived on a tank in well system for four years in Tanzania, am all for a 
practical solution.

Richard Stanley
Www.legacyfound.org

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 9, 2012, at 12:06, Ronald Hongsermeier <[email protected]> wrote:

> Dear Crispin,
> 
> On 09.01.2012 19:02, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Ron
>>  
>> Good to hear from you in the new year.
>>  
>> >I think you misunderstood the article. The bag is only for transport and 
>> >temporary storage. They take the empty (and some dung) to a biogas 
>> >producer, get it filled and go home to cook with it. It is supposed to be 
>> >about a day's cookin' worth.
>> 
>> I am with David House www.completebiogas.com on this one: it is a portable 
>> digester with nothing but gas in it! J
>> 
>> He writes, “It's actually a gas bag, not a digester. Even so, it's an 
>> excellent innovation, and a worthy addition to the armamentarium, wherever 
>> it can serve as a means of transport in connection with a large digester 
>> near any large population. 
>> 
>> And as well, from my point of view, it's also a bit ironic, since the very 
>> sturdy bag, selling for ~$US38, could actually be a digester if it had two 
>> additional pipes (an inlet and an outlet), and further that since it's about 
>> a cubic meter in volume, it would produce about a cubic meter of gas every 
>> day, if fed and kept warm.”
>> 
> That may well be, but, not having seen the bag, it may well need some 
> additional features apart from two pipes. You'd have to get solid materials 
> in and out, etc. Also, I think that his proviso: "...wherever it can serve as 
> a means of transport ... large digester ... any large population." is 
> overwrought. When compared with walking 10 km with 20 or more kg on your 
> head, a 3kg bag is gonna add up to 30 € pretty quick. I'm not dissing the 
> idea of making a digester of that size, just have the impression from the 
> relative clause that he is degrading the usefulness of the idea unnecessarily.
> 
> 
> 
>> I think David is working on a bag digester             himself. The 
>> transport of gas is interesting. If it turned out to be attractive as a 
>> cooking fuel (and delivery system) the users would perhaps be convinced to 
>> install their own systems. I am not convinced that a minibus would accept 
>> the gas ‘package’ without fear or charge.
>> 
> I think they limited the size to keep it a relatively manageable size.
>> It is a lot lighter than a load of wood and the walking distance might be 
>> less. I wonder if a tire on a rim might be as good, and could be pumped by 
>> hand. Will a tire hold a useful volume of gas if hand pumped?
>> 
> Even if the walking distance was more, one would not have the same fatigue. i 
> think you'd have to work pretty hard to compress a whole m^3 into anything 
> like a regular tire-- and a tractor tire with rim would be more taxing to 
> manage than a load of firewood on one's head. ;-) If this was done in 
> cooperation with schools, they could even get the transport with larger 
> school children on the way home from school, delivery before school, pick up 
> the bag and go home after school. hoping you're doing well.
> 
> regards,
> ron
> w
> h
> 
> 
>> Regards
>> 
>> Crispin
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> 
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