Jay Shinn

Read Me!

http://fungi.com/pdf/articles/Fungi_Perfecti_Phase_I_Report.pdf

I'm back from the desert!

11 days of Leave-NoTrace Camping with a camp of around 30 people.

All the camps greywater was passed through my Mycofiltration system prior to evaporation. Equivalent to about 100 gallons of greywater from dishes, footbaths, and general cleaning.
The filter also got to deal with pounds of playa dust.

It never clogged and no particulate came through. Mission success.

Paul Stamets gave me a hug.

Comprehensive Assessment of Mycofiltration Biotechnology to Remove Pathogens from Urban Storm Water

http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/9645/report/0

YES! PERFECT! AWESOME!

I have such a big smile right now.


Ways to improve are going to be found through trial and error depending on how you apply it.

I have been told filtration scales with surface area contact.
You could add a layer of gravel/sand or anything else like that to increase filtration if you felt the need to. Septics rely on sedimentation and baffles. Filtering fats and oils takes surface area and contact time.
Too much filtration will cause the system to rely on pressure from gravity. A slow filter which will be more efficient but less practical depending on the amount you pay pass through the system at any one time.
Possibilities are endless if you make a large settling tank prior to the filter acting as a resivoir/gravity feed.
I did a lot of research on septic tanks and how they function prior to researching greywater filtration.

Heres a commercial greywater filter for home use.
http://aqua2use.com/
Large scale units are pressurized tanks filled with sand.

My unit is packed up for Burning Man, I will be testing it intensively with a camp of 30 or so peoples greywater for 10 days.BM is a Leave No Trace event in the desert

The forum below kinda describes why I'm filtering even though I'm evaporating.
http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?p=334329

Sink was a last minute idea and I went with it,
When you can get that feeling of "oh I could do this..." It's best to run with it

I also had that phase of 'foggy intellectual brainstorming' and found myself being a little held back by it, even though it gives a sane foundation for being crazy.

I didn't want to get it "dirty" before my adventure, but I did test the system concepts for my garden a while ago while in the 'still foggy trying to get out of fog' phase.

I opted to not worry about even water input distribution, but I totally thought all about that also. My half-assed conclusion, was "I've already made this thing cool enough".

Thoughts were that as the system gets used, areas that get "clogged" will simply cause water to move elsewhere.
I also presume that the filtering will be more "capillary" rather than forced. 5 gallons might be the most extreme amount of greywater to pass through it at any one time.
Also, the way I have it built, there will be a bit of "standing water" in the base before water is able to actually go out the spout.

In the end, prototypes are meant to be tested, but you have to build them first, to test them.

I know I just want to filter grey water for an evaporation system, but I like to go all out with mycofiltration as a means of demonstrating to others that there are possibilities.

Photo's !






All my grey water can now be mycofiltered! Removing soaps, fats and oils, before going to the evaporation system, or to be re-used for crude washing. ( for "Leave No Trace" camping)
Remaining water will come home to the garden and everything will be composted.

For a full-time installation, instead of a portable sink unit, one could simply pipe in water from the house.

I wanted to make a completely enclosed system so that nothing could escape during my adventures, this unit will be riding on a trailer.
Proud of myself for only using re-purposed materials

Right now I'm using my unit to de-gass evaporative chlorine from my tap water, before I irrigate my garden.
I see this as a bonus in many ways, because I am also rationing the amount of water my house uses on the garden.
I'm filling it up the night before with a hose and leaving an air-stone running in it, buried under the gravel.
I have not yet put in Mycelium/WheatStraw, but will be doing so soon for a first trial. I have until mid august, to have a complete unit.

So far, I'm simply applying Indoor Hydroponics concepts to my urban outdoor garden.
The drain spigot can easily lead to an evaporation system when i take it to Burning Man (Leave-No-Trace desert camping for 10 days).

I just uploaded a few more photo's of the air-line concept, which helps promote an aerobic environment.
http://s109.photobucket.com/user/shinndragon/library/Mycofiltration%20GreyWater

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=2&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=mycofiltration&OS=mycofiltration&RS=mycofiltration

Read the "English" parts only if you choose to stay sane, most if it will be in "Lawyers" terms.

Landon Sunrich wrote:
Really glad I have access to this forum as Ive been going it alone thus far and that can be very frustrating and isolating. Pretty sure regular cross pollination is necessary for the germination of ideas.

I am also very glad to have this forum, and very glad you are appreciating it as much as I am! Planeteers Unite!
I also know the solo frustration of having an idea and not knowing how to explain it to someone else.
A friend recently told me "Do it for yourself, then it's art." - A.T.

If you have read Mycelium Running, I suggest watching every Bill Molison Permaculture design Course Video you can find. In order to find ways to APPLY design concepts.

I completely look forward to your ideas and inspiration, who knows, I may get inspired by them and then we will really be on a roll

Landon Sunrich wrote:Hey Jay

I'm trying to get a visual of your system. So like are you running grey water from a sink drain (or whatever) into that black pvc with holes all down it and and letting it soak into straw which you have filled your blue drum with? Is thats whats up? couldn't tell from your 4 pictures, but that seemed plausible.

Pictures are starting phases thus far, More to come when I actually have time from my crazy projects

Greywater or tap water will enter from the top opening via hose or 5 gallon bucket, I could do a pipe from the house but I rent, I do not own.
The water will go through layers of mycelium/straw, sand and gravel, before leeching into the pipe and out a spigot on the outside.
I intend to pre-filter out any large organic kitchen-waste material, but it could be used as an outdoor compost system also.

I am washing gravel, and growing out mycelium on pasteurized wheat straw.

I would like to simply be able to provide a way to re-use my camps dishwater and simple washings while camping in the desert, Dr. Bronners only or something similar obviously.
At first I was thinking "Dune" by Frank Herbert. Water is Life.

This could also be used as a worm-bin, to gravity feed worm-tea through the garden.

Possibilities are endless, but resources are limited.

Imagine your garden is your aquarium and your plants are your fish...
This system could act as a bio-filter for a pond or outdoor water-display.

On a larger scale it could be used to filter urban storm water runoff, and anything that leaves a farm or sewage treatment plant.