[USCC] heat value of compost

[John A. Crockett]

I've seen some discussion on caloric value of compost.  

We think in terms of BTU's, and find that we generally can capture about
2,835 BTU's per cubic yard, per hour, from early stage food compost.  We're
looking at capturing about 30 million BTU's per hour from early stage food
compost at a facility that we're developing.  If you didn't know, a BTU is
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water,
one degree Fahrenheit. 

It was January, 1996, that we did our first oxygen depletion test and found
that the microbes can deplete the oxygen from 19% down to 2% in 15 minutes.
That convinced us that forced aeration is essential for good composting
process management. Since then we've found that often the early stage
compost requires over 23 times its own volume, in fresh air, every hour, to
hold the CO2  level in the off-gas between 1 - 2%; and 30X is not that
uncommon for us.

Admittedly, we are not using windrows, much less, passively aerated
windrows.  Nor are we using any type of in vessel composting.  We're
striving for over 5 billion active bacteria, per gram, dry weight, in early
stage food compost.

The real composters are active microbes, and if you can't check up on how
many, or how much active microbial bio-mass you have working for you, how do
you judge how well you're managing the composting process?

Working Together to Create a Sustainable Environment,
John A. Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
Mother Nature's Farms, Inc.
(845) 225-7763
http://www.magicsoil.com/
jac at magicsoil.com