Comments on: Interview with Mai Ann Healy – Biofiltro

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 01:23:05 +0000

Thank you, Mai. Skim the castings from the top. Now I understand how your system works.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 18:57:25 +0000

Very sorry Mai & Andy – I literally just realized that Mai’s comment hand’t yet been approved! 🙁

By: Mai Ann Healy

Mai Ann Healy — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 21:24:22 +0000

Hi! I wanted to respond to Andy’s question – unlike vermicomposting where worms push their castings to the bottom, the worms in our systems push their castings up to the system surface. Then, all we have to do is skim the system surface to remove the castings. If it’s a small system, this task can be done manually, while our larger facilities are built so that long arm excavators can be used to remove the casting layer from the top of the facility. Castings are placed in a dump truck that follows the excavator and can be then shipped off to its final destination, be it the client’s fields or elsewhere. We just finished harvesting one plant that yielded 2,000 cubic yards of castings soooo worm poop for the win! As for microbes, the dominant specie depends on what wastewater contaminant we are trying to remove, UC Davis did a study (you can find it on our dairy page) where they highlighted all the bacteria present in one of our dairy facilities where we need to target nitrogen removal. If they were to do a study for our system in a different industry, the species would be completely different.

By: Andy Loy

Andy Loy — Sat, 22 Jun 2019 23:23:45 +0000

Nice interview. I just wonder how the vermicompost is harvest from the BioFiltro system. What species of bacteria actual breaks down the waste water? In the mushroom world, straw that is inoculated with oyster spawn is another way to clean waste water in ponds and streams on a test scale. This method is call mycoremediation. Probably someday, mycoremediation, redworms, and vermifilteration will be one unit for waste waster treatment.