Hi Christopher >Hi Keith, > >You cannot substitute 60 degrees C in a couple of weeks with 121 degrees in >30 minutes. You need such a high temperature to stop the fungus from >reproducing and denature(destroy) the enzymes responsible for converting >straw to glucose. By composting, you are creating culture medium for the >fungus and ultimately a disaster.
Hm... Maybe, but I'm dubious. It might be true if I were creating a culture medium for *only* that fungus, but that's hardly the case. I don't think it works that way, this is not just a physical process, there's more to it than just the pure amount of heat required. Also this is not something like E.M. or bokashi, with something like a puny 80 anaerobes at work, there are at least 25,000 species involved, and you have to consider the whole system. No single organism can gain the upper hand. In compost such as this, and in a soil it's added to, pathogens are certainly to be found, as they are in your gut, no matter how healthy you are, but they're kept in check. >Eve Balfour, one of the founders of the organics movement, told how >a commercial organic grower was visited by a team of plant >pathologists and entomologists from Cambridge University. "They knew >it was an unsprayed holding and they came looking for disease and >pests. They found isolated examples of everything they expected to >find, but, as they put it, they failed to find a single case of crop >damage." -- Lady Eve Balfour, "Towards a Sustainable Agriculture -- >The Living Soil", an address to an IFOAM (International Federation >of Organic Agriculture Movements) conference in Switzerland in 1977. >Online at: >http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010116Balfourspeech.html And so on. So I'd want to see some tests, but I wouldn't presume that the fungus would proliferate, rather the opposite. And it'd be worth knowing, obviously. I am aware of such dangers as you describe - see for instance: http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/01-02-05-report.htm GM Bacteria could destroy all life on earth - Report Ulp... Best Keith >regards, > >Christopher > >=>-----Original Message----- >=>From: Keith Addison [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >=>Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 3:23 AM >=>To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com >=>Subject: Re: [biofuel] Rice straw to glucose - was Re: question on water >=>hyacinth >=> >=> >=>Hi Ken >=> >=>Thanks for this, very interesting. >=> >=>>Hi Keith >=>> >=>>I talked to Iyan this morning and this is what he told >=>>me. The fungus is called Trichoderma Reesei (QM9414). >=>> It first digests lignin then cellulose to glucose and >=>>will continue on to digest glucose once the cellulose >=>>is consumed. The reaction is carried out at room >=>>temperature (in the tropics) in stirred aerated water. >=>> The maximum glucose yield of 17% by weight of dry >=>>rice straw is reached in about four days. A continues >=>>flow process is possible, but he only performed a >=>>batch process in the laboratory. The work was >=>>published in the Indonesian language and a translation >=>>into English is not available. >=> >=>Well, I've no right to say "That's a pity" (he said, saying it), >=>English is much too imperialistic... >=> >=>Anyway that's probably enough to work on Ken, many thanks! >=> >=>>Best regards, >=>> >=>>Ken >=> >=>>Keith >=>> >=>>I forgot to add that the residual can be used for >=>>fertilizer. Where I live, the wet paddy method of >=>>rice production is used and the rice straw is burned >=>>rather than “plowed” back into the paddy. >=> >=>That's a waste, such useful stuff! And the soil needs some return. >=>Composting would be better. (Add 50% water hyacinth, for instance, >=>then there's no need for animal manure.) >=> >=>Are you aware of this, by the way? >=>http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/ >=>SRI Homepage/System of Rice Intensifcation >=> >=>Well worth a look, or better than a look. >=> >=>>The >=>>Trichoderma Reesei fungus should be killed or it may >=>>start attacking roots etc. Heating at 121 Celsius for >=>>30 minutes is enough to denature it (a microwave oven >=>>might work). The minerals and fixed nitrogen remain >=>>in the residual. >=> >=>Hot composting at 60 deg C for a couple of weeks should deal with it, >=>and give an improved product too. >=> >=>Thanks again Ken. >=> >=>Best >=> >=>Keith >=> >=> >=>>Ken >=> >=> >=>>Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hello >=>>Ken >=>> >=>><snip> >=>> >=>> >You can also look at fermentation to glucose and >=>> >ethanol. My colleague, Dr. Iyan Sofyan, has used a >=>> >fungus to ferment rice straw to glucose. And rice >=>> >straw is difficult because of its high lignin content >=>> >(like wood). >=>> >=>>I'd like to know more about that - any more detail >=>>available? Did Dr. >=>>Sofyan publish anything about it? >=>> >=>>regards >=>> >=>>Keith >=>> >=>> >=>> >Best regards and good luck, >=>> > >=>> >Ken ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Free shipping on all inkjet cartridge & refill kit orders to US & Canada. Low prices up to 80% off. We have your brand: HP, Epson, Lexmark & more. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5510 http://us.click.yahoo.com/GHXcIA/n.WGAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! 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