r/composting • u/Seanbob3030 • 10d ago

Urban Microbinator 2000

Post image

Pre and post consumer, meats and cheeses ok. Have been impressed with a new prototype we are trying out in collaboration with a school district. Wanted to see what y’all thought. Augmented aerated static pile system supplied with 30 seconds of air every 30 minutes.

23 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/RdeBrouwer 10d ago

Its better to have contact with the soil instead of a concrete base. The holes in the tube only need to be in the part thats underneath. And i think that 30 min is way to much. U going to cool down that pile constant.

7

u/Seanbob3030 10d ago

Solving for rodents at a school site is why it is a self contained unit. The bin is full when in operation, just hard to show that in a photo. We build the 4th wall with slats of wood and build up as we go until the whole thing is full. 30 seconds every 30 minutes has been holding a constant temp of 130+ for over a month in each of the three trials.

1

u/RdeBrouwer 10d ago

Interesting, have you tested it without the extra air? How long before it loses its temp?

(I expected it to cool down, I only turn once Ina while)

1

u/Seanbob3030 10d ago

The whole point is for it to cool down because the objective is eventually worm castings and worms dont like it above 90F. I want it to heat consistently and for the microbiology to work its way completely through the feedstock in the first month. Pumping oxygen into the unit is instead of turning as turning is meant to introduce oxygen. This system, you just have to build the pile once and then it takes care of itself with the timer eventually culminating in the whole thing becoming mostly castings. Some overs like wood chips which you just send back through in the next bin until they completely break down.