Very interesting read. This is something to understand and to be put to practical use, as it seems to be relatively inexpensive to build.
Thanks for finding and posting the links.
Mike

gasifier stove

This is gasifier type technology for producing carbon for soil:
http://www.energeticforum.com/agricu...e-cooking.html

Gasifier - AKA Lego Gasifier

Hi All,

Here is a Gasifier Experimenters Kit with excellent gallery photographs of the construction -

Gasifier Experimenters Kit
gek - Page 1

And a really nice handy camp stove -

Biomass Energy Foundation Bookstore

Regards,
Glen

Hi All,

Here are some YouTube Videos of gasifiers -

YouTube - Wood gas car Start
YouTube - Classic Motor Show Lahti - starting the woodgas tractor
YouTube - Wood gas tractor
YouTube - Briggs running on woodgas with the first rig
YouTube - Early Run on Woodgas
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6wvIzzHSJuM&feature=related

And some WW11 photos of vehicles equiped with gasifiers -

Regards,
Glen

M-1

I just jumped on the Biogas wagon. Lots out there to choose from. This is my unit, on order. The M-1.

I will share my results. Like anyone I will be, you know, killing a few gensets with it, first. They are cheap and easily had.

but...

The big picture is to efficiently use the heat to run a steam engine! I figure the steam engine will last longer given that steam, is well, steam. pretty hard to gum up a valve train with tar... when there is no possible way to do it.

I plan on throwing first a 10T SS SSG at it a battery bank, and running on a (approximately) 2500 watt genny.

The idea is to augment the no wind no sun days.

Cheers All.

Has anyone used wheaten or oilseed rape straw as fuel their gasifier ?

Hi Glen,

I recently purchased a new countryside homestead where I plan to do some farming, and I also picked up a 1950 Ferguson tractor in great condition. I plan to set up the tractor to run on woodgas, and will use the tractor for several purposes. Right now I'm using it just to plow snow in my driveway , but will be plowing a garden plot this spring. I also want to use the tractor to mow the 2 acre field my house sits on, and to harvest wood from my 20 acre woodlot. With a woodchipper attachment operated from the tractor's power take-off, I figure that I could produce all the chips that I would ever need not only to fuel the tractor, but also to produce abundant heat and hot water, while at the same time allowing me to drive a generator. So, I'll definitely be doing some homework on woodgas technology. By the way, the new home is a passive solar heated one, and I'm amazed at how efficient it already is. On a day like yesterday, when the temperature outside never went over 10 degrees, I was able to shut off all supplemental heat by 9:30 in the morning, and by 10:00AM actually had to start cracking some windows open as the inside temperature had risen to over 75 degrees. Most of the heat comes from the solar attic, which warms up quickly on a clear day. By noon time the attic temperature was 120 degrees F, and at 2:00PM it reached a high for the day of 143 degrees. A fan comes on when the attic temperature reaches 85 degrees and circulates the attic air down and through a hollowed masonry wall which continues to radiate heat well after sundown, so I don't have to switch any supplemental heat back on until 2 to 3 hours later, when the attic temperature drops below 85 again. Currently the home uses electric baseboard heat in the evenings, and I thought that would be expensive, but my electric bill for the past 30 day was under $100, and everything in this house runs on electric. With just a few renewable energy enhancements I should be able to live entirely off grid next winter. I expect woodgas to play a major role in that.

Rick

Hi Rick, Glen et aLL

We are making a unit this year for one of the donated farms , ill film it all for every one and make a course, we are going for power to his truck and the home. Glen thanks for all those links. Bill W one of our most respected engineers did one also.

Gasifier Ver2 6-9-2011 012.3gp - YouTube

Imagine this in the tropics where they have left over coconut husks, they could also power their fridge and use the waste heat, some one should take gasifers to the islands.


Ash

I look forward to receiving my Imbert based design and get experimenting with it soon. If anyone discovers any links to home built shredders and chippers, please let me know. Here in BC there is absolutely no shortage of dead standing pine and fur beetle attacked trees. I also look forward to experimenting with ways to recycle exhaust heat, and scrub gases to clean up emissions. Fairly high on my list (given my already built gear) will be to get a 2-3000 watt genset fired up, then sacrfice about 400 watts to HHO, only to put that right back into the throttle. I'm not saying it will provide an overall net gain; my unit only runns at about 4.8 MMW, but.. it should clean up the exhaust a bit and improve RPM / combustion.

Gasifier's for Internal Combustion Engines are a poor option, but will work. The idea already mentioned here about running a steam turbine is so much better. A Tesla boundary layer turbine for example can be expected to run at 40% efficiency quite easily with a good design, compare this to 20% for an ICE. The figures might change a bit because the woodgas is well, gas, and not liquid but the efficiency will always be higher in a turbine. The other advantages to a turbine are huge too, constant running with little maintenance, and no tar within the workings of the system mean a clean working fluid. Turbines are also perfectly suited to constant speed applications such as running an alternator, and with a suitable reduction drive an alternator load is no problem.

I did a lot of work on gasifiers last year along with Mr Goose and Chet and a few others helping out:

Alternate Fuel for Diesel and Gasoline Engines - 100% off the Bowser

This is a very information dense thread and not all of it is on gasifiers but a lot of the information you should find useful. The link you requested to home built chippers is also in there somewhere near the end with full build procedure and pictures.

If your going to pursue the steam turbine route you need to know this:

Steam Engineering Tutorials : International site for Spirax Sarco

alternatively you can read the first 14 chapters for free online:

Spirax Sarco - The Steam and Condensate Loop Book

This information on steam and condensate loops is not optional reading for those serious about steam systems. Steam boilers are dangerous, but can be made safe, especially with modern technology. I would also add extra safety systems such as burst disks to perform a controlled bleed off of pressure from the boiler, safety pressure relief valves can and do fail due to moving components, burst disks are solid state and if they do fail from corrosion they automatically shift to “safe” preventing a dangerous explosion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burst_disk

The boiler requires a flow control valve prior to the turbine nozzle inlet, control the dimension of the boiler outlet and you control the mass flow rate for a given pressure, determined by your heat source input energy and your water fill level within the boiler. Boiler refills with fresh water is standard practice using steam injectors up to a certain pressure, which should be fine for this particular application so your system can run continuously for long periods of time without the boiler boiling dry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_injector

Most industrial power plants use steam turbines and a heat source for a reason. It is the most efficient power generation technology ever invented. Small scale versions for home power generation will enjoy similar benefits and done correctly should be safe, after all I bet nearly all of you have a boiler system installed in your house and you do not worry about it blowing up, do you ?


You will also need to understand the Rankine cycle and the Carnot cycle for advanced systems, and the difference between saturated and superheated steam. You want superheated steam in your turbine, and saturated steam for heat transfer. You must also consider type of cooling medium for your heat exchanger, either water, air, or geothermal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankine_cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satura...aturated_steam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiat...ine_cooling%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump

Hope that helps,

RM

@RM

Thanks for the heaps of info. I've never considered a steam turbine to be efficient at the low HP values - 5 hp - 10 hp, 350,000 BTU/h outputs, and always though a steam engine, would be the way to go, in this category.

Maybe I am wrong.

Turbines for the common man is only just beginning to be explored. I will offer a compromise:

RotoMax Rotary Engine... Tesla - Wankel - Mason HHO Hybrid

No performance data yet publicly available, but considering the relative ease of construction over a traditional linear piston engine it may be worth considering.

RM

Interesting. Given the depth of study needed though - money and time in - I think that initially the way to go is run a Briggs and Stratton, and see if it dies or not. One can be had, used, for about $75. Something can be learned from seeing how long it will actually last, and what sorts of filtering can extend that. From there, steam engines are already available. As you have stated, turbines are very complex, and in my opinion probably far better suited to larger applications. For me, the point is to make power; not so much re-invent the wheel and make it perfect! I can understand others' point of views and goals too. The way I look at it though is, it's still combusting natural resources, and it is not readily, easily scaled, nor will it even be viable for many. Farmers and cabin owners, sure.. off gridders etc.. but not the guy that lives in an apartment. I do not see the point in spending thousands on perfecting a steam turbine design for this. It's be like putting a turbo charger on a 1986 Hyundai Pony. For those wishing to perfect filtering, and plan to use, for example cornstalks, at the 1000 HP level or higher - sure - I can see how an industrail application may warrant getting really busy with the finer applications, but for the common user, it'd be silly to spend thousands developing a small scale steam turbine given the limited output of the device, it's pollution factors, etc. Machining and engineering new motors is not my forte, and it is very very expensive to get into. Additionally if I were to look into that, I think a system utilizing mixed garbage waste would be a lot more practicle. I may have endless dead standing trees at my disposal, but that is not the norm.

Hi Guys.

I have been working on a small portable stove design essentially for camping but applicable to an off grid lifestyle or 3rd world etc. I wanted to incorporate as many functions into the stove as possible, while keeping it reasonably light.

Anyway, I have finished and tested most of it and it works great. Im still waiting for some thermoelectric chips which will add power generation to the list. Its only 15-30 watts, but that will be enough to run the fans (heat exchanger) LED lighting, and charge a battery. The fans can be SG circuited to get a little more bang for your buck. I'll post some photos/video soon. For those who may be interested I found an excellent site on stove design.

Stove Design - Stove Design

I highly recommend browsing through some of the documents there.