***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Okay,, I have too much time.. what you see in the picture is a miniature wood gasifier, In other words, a quart paint can filled with wood chips, the wood chips are heated over a fire and release gas, you can then ignite the gas, the used wood chips can be used for charcoal, during world war II they actually ran cars and truck doing this,,, there is a ton of videos on you tube about it...

Hope you enjoy alternate energy
Cheers
Mark

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Here's another pic,,, I know we love pictures...

Cheers
Mark

[Archena]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Waaayyy too much time, I'd say.

How would you run a vehicle on that? I've never quite understood that. If you have to heat the stuff to get the wood vapor how do you start the engine?

Okay, so you're not the only one with too much time...

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Okay arch, here is how wikipedia describes it

Wood gas is a syngas also known as producer gas which is produced by thermal gasification of biomass or other carbon containing materials such as coal in a gasifier or wood gas generator or producer gas. It is the result of two high-temperature reactions (above 700 ?C (1,292 ?F)): an exothermic reaction where carbon burns to CO2 but is then reduced partially back to CO (endothermic); and an endothermic reaction where carbon reacts with steam, producing carbon monoxide (CO), molecular hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2).

In several gasifiers, the actual gasification process is preceded by pyrolysis, where the biomass or coal turns into char, releasing methane (CH4) and tar rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Other gasifiers are fed with previously pyrolysed char. Wood gas is flammable because of the carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane content.

Im not sure I exactly understand it,, but I've seen it work now So I can believe it..
Cheers
Mark

[RTflorida]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Yeah, what he said.

All these years I thought my high school diesel mechanics instructor was, how can I respectfully say it........a bit simple and unprofessional. Turns out I actually understood his simplistic explanation. He also told the stories of WW II vehicles, fuel shortages, and running engines on virtually any combustable material.
I came away from it with the knowledge that the internal combustion engine is pretty amazing and as he told us, literally capable of running on sawdust.

Mark, I totally agree with your entire explanation, even though I have no idea what you said.

RT

[vintagemx0]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Mark,

That's cool you like to experiment with that stuff. Another term for that process is "water gas"??? I built a replica of a VW "kubelwagen" before taking on this oven, and in doing so learned about the German application of this gasification process. At the end of WW2, fuel was scarce in Germany, and they retro-fitted some vehicles to utilize what you are doing here. The German process was called "Holzgaz" and it actually worked to provide fuel for internal combustion engines.

From the accounts I read, the vehicles were low on power, limited to about 25 mph, and could only run for about 20 miles before they had to be re-fueled and the water impinger trains cleaned-out.

I heard that years ago, the old woodstove company Vermont Castings in Bethel Vermont had an old school bus that ran on wood with this type of system. I have talked to people who had seen it, and they all said it was wierd, slow, and dirty....but all thought is was very cool too.

So, perhaps this is not a very practical form of energy, but when energy supplies are sort, (and wood is abundent) it has proven to be a practical alternative when faced with outages.

I think it is cool you are messing around with it. I love old technology. I read about the German V1 unmanned missle planes that were powered by pulse-jet engines and have always wanted to build a small pulse-jet engine just to tinker with it. Perhaps next year, after the oven is complete...

Keep tinkering! It is great brain candy!

Regards,

Ken Morgan

[metalmaster]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

somebody has been watching "the colony"

[cynon767]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

here's an article in depth about the gasification process


and here's some more description and current experimentation at work.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

somebody has been watching "the colony"

Hey metal,, you are 100% correct.. Thats what got me started, Honestly I just couldnt believe it was possible, but indeeed it is.. I cant find it right now, but later I will post the link FEMA has (federal emergency management agency) with 150 page report and plans on how this can be done..
Glad your all enjoying...
YouTube - Wood gas car Start here is a guy who is actually running his car on it... Note the trailer load of fuel.....
Thanks everybody for all the extra info.. I have a 1983 porsche 944 sitting in my driveway,, wouldnt that look great running on wood doing 25 mph, Kind of an oxy moron,,
Cheers
Mark

[Archena]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Thanks, guys. I guess I wasn't clear (not surprising - I seldom am that late at night). I understand (generally) the gasification proper, but I don't get how that is accomplished in a cold engine. Where's the heat source for the gasification? Once started you could use the engine heat itself, I suppose, but how do you get the process started?

That's probably no clearer than the first try.... Sigh...

[cynon767]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

The gasifier reactor operates separately to produce the fuel and feeds it to the engine; you have to light the reactor before you can get the fuel to drive. See these photos of a honda with a gasifier mounted in the trunk with its outlet piped forward to feed the engine. (click the link to flickr or to the PicLens slideshow to see large versions)

Here's a cruder but very visually representative version in the bed of a pickup truck.

edit: Mark, thanks for the video link. It does a good job of showing the lighting procedure. Also, the first of the links I posted goes to one of the FEMA docs showing construction information. The others go to a group in Berkeley who produce semi-DIY kits that are pretty well engineered, if you don't really have quite so much free time as all that. They offer various levels of build, from prebuilt to DIY plans for a scratch build, with a very modular and customizable layouts to suit your application. They mostly focus on power generation and engines, but they also do biochar for agricultural use.

[dmun]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

We talked about this a while ago, in connection with making charcoal:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f17/...coal-3828.html

The retort uses the gas produced to intensify the heating of the retort.

[Archena]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Thanks, Cynon. Dial up isn't really fond of You Tube so I couldn't see the video (unless I want to wait a week for it to upload). I appreciate the help - from you, too, Mark!

Dmun, is the retort the pipe coming from the top and going underneath?


Edit: Never mind - I found it in the linked thread.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

Thanks for all the liks guys,, There really is a ton of information, I actually started reading last night around 6,, Had to finally go to bed around 11:30 as my eyes were closing.. Im thinking now the car route might be a little more difficult, But definitely doable with the skills and tools I have, I am seriously condidering building one to run a generator to supplement houshold usage as my first project, I have to go thru all the sites now and find the most viable and cheapest... This site STAKProperties.com - We sell the highest quality and lowest cost energy products available!has one for 1950.00 complete and assembled as well as a bunch of interesting stuff... I have a 6500 watt generator for the electrical part,, I want to look at my electric bill and see what my actual usage is and if It would be worth any investment in this..

I think I build a 6 x 6 cincerblock shed and the gen and syngas unit would fit in it,,, Thinking if I insulate it well (and vent it well) It might help keep the noise down.. and keep the house safe...

All this reading is easy,,, Now is the thought and planning process that will take some time,,,

Thanks again everyone for all your help and Im still way open to suggestions and thoughts (including u guys telling me Im nuts), so feel free to keep em flying...
Cheers
Mark

[Archena]

Re: ***Miniature Wood Gasifier***

You're nuts. But you should have figured that out when you started building an oven in your backyard.

I don't have time now but I have a large number of links on alternative energy - figuring costs, size, systems and a mind-boggling number of head exploding technical stuff. I could link a few of the best ones if you like. Or, if you're on Delicious, I'm Archena there as well.