The Milbank Integrated Drainage and Aeration System offers a precast solution to the usual poured concrete aerated composting floor design.
The system is built upon the age old static pile composting process but uses modern building materials and fabrication processes to offer improved aeration and leachate control along with all the other usual benefits that prefabrication brings:
- More cost effective
- Less wastage during construction
- Greater flexibility in design
| MIDAS–Floor® |
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Standard prestressed, precast, concrete, hollow-core floor units. Designed to be light and yet stronger than poured floors.
Up to 5 cores run through each 1.2m wide section which can be cast in lengths up to 8m. A matrix of holes drilled into the top of the floors on which the compost stands allows air to be injected into or pulled through the material.
In addition, leachate produced by the material compacting and compressing is allowed to drain down through the holes and can be taken away for recirculation or separate treatment.
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| MIDAS-Walls® |
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Precast, reinforced concrete walls in the shape of an invereted “T” support the MIDAS-Floors®. This removes the need for excessive costly groundworks. The walls stand on 2m wide strip foundations and stand up to 5m high. With a flat concrete roof at this height leaves sufficient space for a front-end loader to operate without the need for removal.
Cast into the walls are 300mm pipework which is easily “plumbed” into the hollow cores of the floor. The pipework acts as transmission and a natural plenum for aeration as well as a means of leachate egress.
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MIDAS-Roofs® |
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Each composting tunnel can be fitted with permanent or removable roofs depending on the situation.
As standard the tunnels are supplied with 150m deep hollow core. The strength is such that it is possible to build the biofilter on the roof to save space– or simply to maximise processing capacity.
A permanent roof has many advantages including, high snow loading, a permanent barrier to the external environment and no need to allow odour and bioaerosols to escape during loading and unloading.
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The system is enormously flexible and versatile. The number of cores running under the waste is many times greater than conventional aerated floors as they run from wall to wall rather than end to end. As a result, the number and size of aeration points can be designed specifically for the bulk density, moisture content and particle size of the material being treated. And if any of these factors change, then unlike all other systems, then the aeration can be filled in and re-drilled.
As basic covered silos, the components can be arranged to enclose existing problematic open windrow composting sites, for the maturation of ABP treated wastes or for drying/ composting waste prior to further processing or landfill.
As a fully specified ABP compliant composting installation, the system can be arranged to treat a whole array of Category-3 Animal by-Products and has considerable benefits over conventional systems.
Tunnels can be built from 5m to 8m wide and any length to suit waste volumes and operational requirements. Air is delivered or removed by roof mounted fans and odorous exhaust gases are treated through a standard biofilter. Feedstock can be fed and removed from the tunnels by means of wheeled loader. Whilst inside, inserted temperature and oxygen probes ensure that appropriate conditions are maintained for optimum composting. |
