[USCC] Vertical composting

[Swager, Ronald]

I've looked at some vertical composting systems.  VCU Technologies
markets a vertical composter unit about 15 ft. deep.

A nearby city would like to use this abandoned elevator to process
commercial (and eventually post-consumer residential) organic waste.

Technically, I think we can make composting work inside these silos with
forced aeration and proper blending of feedstocks, but I don't have a
good feeling for how deep we can go before compaction prevents adequate
O2 distribution even with forced aeration.  I, too, envision
short-circuit air channels, and anaerobic pockets forming unless we use
exorbitant percentages of bulking agents.  

I don't want to build a mixing system inside the silos if I can avoid
it.  The only solution I can come up with is to auger the material from
the bottom of one silo to the top of the next, in effect turning the
pile and limiting the residence time in a given silo.  The silos are
built with bottom dispensing cones.  Maybe 5-days each in three or four
silos? 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: A.Niv [mailto:a.niv at masstech.pl] 
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 2:12 AM
To: US Composting Council Compost Discussion List
Subject: Re: [USCC] Vertical composting

Hello Ronald,

Vertical composting systems exist. They operate quite successfully.
The main problem is to secure aeration and material movement.
The height and compaction is the problem. Aeration of such a
large volume of sitting and compacting material is quite a challenge.
The second challenge is to remove the compacting and bridging
material from the bottom.
The multiple augers system able to remove the bottom layer will cost a
fortune,
The entire mass of 700-800 tons sits on the bottom augers !
Another problem is securing the porosity of the composted mass.
The structural material and organic waste must be very coarse to prevent
the channeling of air forced from the bottom and the resulting hot spots
and anaerobic areas.

To make the long story short - not a good idea. Way to expensive.

Andrew Niv
www.masstech.pl



> Anyone have any thoughts on converting a number of 25ft diameter, 150
> ft. tall concrete grain elevators into vertical composters?     Would
it
> be possible to deal with compaction and air flow problems at depth of
> 100+  feet?  What's the deepest pile of compost anyone's heard of?
>
>
>
>
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