Text 16795, 83 rader
Skriven 2007-06-16 07:58:20 av hap newsom
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: RE: DRYING  70615
=========================
Howdy Glen!
-> 
->  ->  -> Industrial drying of fruit, and USAn drying of everything is usually
->  ->  -> done using fossil heat.   In the tropics, coconut meat is dried to 
make
->  ->  -> copra using either solar heat or renewable from burning coconut 
husks.
->  ->  HN> Matters of scale and time from harvest to market Glen, It could 
be
->  ->  HN> done here, but would take extra time and space. I'm sure that 
even 
->  ->  HN> Oz, the commercial growers of apricots don't use solar to dry 
them.
->  -> 
->  -> Curious, I rang our largest commercial producer, Angas Park Fruit
->  -> Company, in the Barossa Valley.  I was assured that all of their
->  -> products - stone fruit, apples, grapes, sultanas - are still sun-dried
->  -> in racks after sulphuring.  Exactly the same method my father used 

Now, how many million metric tonnes does Angas Park Fruit produce a year?
-> 
->  ->  HN> Home growers here in the USA still often use solar to dry their
->  ->  HN> fruit...where the climate is suitable to do so..in the humid south
->  ->  HN> not so practical, nor in the damp portion of my state...but in 
Eastern
->  ->  HN> Washington where the humidity is often very (veryvery) low it's 
often
->  ->  HN> done. We have no problems using it when it fits the needs...but 
often
->  ->  HN> it simply does not fit the needs. Feed corn is often left in the
field
->  ->  HN> on the stalk to dry, and of course the same goes for wheat 
(grin).
-> 
-> Rain at the wrong time, just before harvest, can ruin a wheat crop.
-> Solar drying is the simplest and most widely used method of food
-> preservation, which has been used by humans "forever".
-> 
And will continue to be used where it is feasable. 

->  -> suggestion was that the anaerobic digestion of animal and human 
faeces
->  -> in closed tanks to produce methane and fertiliser was a preferable way
->  -> of dealing with a pollutant, reducing green-house gases (methane has
->  -> about 20 times the green-house effect as CO2), and providing energy.
-> 
->  HN> In India, methane is created with "digesters" and some of that is done
->  HN> here in 
->  HN> the USA as well....many large dairy operations use the "cow pies"
->  HN> (remember  them? (GRIN)) and digesters to create methane which is 
then
->  HN> used to power  farm equipment, and/or generate electricity for the
-> 
-> That is reasonable when the cows are kept in stalls or small yards and
-> fed prepared diets.  Not so easy where they are grass fed all year, and
-> roam over the wide open paddocks.
-> 
You'll notice I said "dairy operations" where the cows are usually in barns at 
night and during twice daily milkings...believe me they generate enough cow 
crap even in those short periods that it is entirely workable! Many places that

don't use digesters and generate power from the waste will add water to it so 
that they have a "slurry" and pump it into trucks and spray it back over the 
fields as fertilizer. 

->  HN> farm. Here in Tacoma we  have a methane generation system at our 
city's
->  HN> sewage treatment facility  and it generates enough gas to power 
many of
->  HN> the city's fleet vehicles. The  alternative and "off the grid" energy
->  HN> programs are not in short supply in the  USA. 
-> 
-> As the cost of traditional forms of energy increases, all this makes
-> sense.  Here, large sewage treatment works are usually self-powered by
-> methane, and I have seen one small power station run from gas collected
-> from fermenting underground garbage deposits.  Many of our buses run on
-> compressed natural gas.
-> 
As do many of ours!
chat with you soon
hap 
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