This heating system recovers and reuses the heat energy produced by the compost during the biological process.At the heart of the volume of 1 m3 of compost, the temperature can reach 60 °. It therefore seemed worthwhile to try to recover the heat produced. The heat transfer system is based on a simple principle: that of the hot water heating. In the draft of the Agrocité , the system will serve to partially heat all the buildings during the cold period of the year.
The system comprises two parts: on the one hand the system loading, storage and movement of the compost and on the other hand the mobile system of transfer of thermal energy, which allows to recover the heat produced by compost. On the site of the Agrocité , compost can be recovered at different points of the site: at the Agrolab, shared garden, composting toilets. A compost storage vessel will be installed at each location. When these boxes are full, they can be moved and returned to the mezzanine of the building to be connected to the heating system. As the field presents difficulties in terms of transport, we chose two mechanisms: the conventional pallet transporter for flat areas and a platform with 4 wheels for more bumpy areas.
This prototype represents a first step in a long road that passes from the technical design to the implementation phase. With this experiment we can define some parameters of the system, which remains widely understudied in the world. The specifications of the prototype is in the Local Products section from our site: Compost heating .
design team: aaa and Yvon Nature Ecology
collaborated in the production of the prototype: Yassine, Michael and Basil