wood-gas generator

[ken]

Has anyone heard of the wood-gas generators used during WWII ?
Any body know the octane rating from wood-gas?

 

[supermechanic]

Try this link; http://www.woodgas.com/history.htm
this one too; http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml

 

[carguy455]

Yessssss!

This is the kind of stuff we need to be doing !!!!!!!

I have been asking/talking about on here and on other boards !!!!!

Experimenters and backyard mechanics will be the ones to save this country from the "evil oil countrys"...so come on guys, lets see some "alternatives" !!!!!!

 

[cranetruck]

A friend of mine had one of these "generators" as a demo as he was promoting its use (this was 25 years ago). They are big and he had a special trailer made that he hauled around behind his "wood gas" powered Cadillac.
You basically "cook" the wood without burning it to extract the methane gas, which is used run the engine.

 

[ken]

I found a lot of info on building and operating one. FEMA of all people put out the best manual. But i never found any info on what gas was produced. Thanks bjorn! I was also reading about the fischer-tropsch method to convert coal and shale to syn diesel. Germany did it during the war because they didn't have any crude. But they had plenty of coal. There is also info on using this method to get a syn diesel from natural gas. This is not new tech, and there is plenty of info on the web to do it.

 

[Desert Rat]

Ken,

I'm saving my cut trees! Any help with stacking?!?!?!?

 

[cranetruck]

I need to make a correction here, there is methane in the gas produced, but the primary ingredient is actually carbon monoxide.
Sorry about that.

 

[carguy455]

Gathering materials, gonna try to build one !!

 

[SixBuy]

There were a couple of articles in Mother Earth News a long time ago. One guy had a pickup that ran on wood scraps from a furniture mill. N.Carolina, I think. As I recall, he got about 30 miles per bushel! Another ran a regular car engine to compress air, turn a generator and heat water for his house and shop.
The manifold vacuum pulls the air through the cookers/scrubbers so the engine has to be started on gasoline then switched over.
All the wood debris from Hurricane Rita is currently being fed to a tub grinder. That stuff would run everything I own for the next 100 years!
The two biggest drawbacks I see are the need to chop everything into chunks and the high level of attention required. It's unlikely you could watch a rental movie on a TV powered by a generator run off wood chips without several intermissions.
Sounds like fun!

 

[cranetruck]

Mother Earth #27, May 1974 has an article on it with descriptions of several types.

 

[ken]

I'm studying a method for pumping the gas into a propane tank. Then powering the engine from that at a later time. Generating gas while doing other tasks in the yard and then using it during the week sound more resonable to me. But i need to get a day off first!. Even if i can't produce enough gas for the week i bet i can cut the cost quite a bit.
Hey mike, Can we get a seperate catorgory for these types of topics?

 

[Polverone]

I was also reading about the fischer-tropsch method to convert coal and shale to syn diesel.

I just saw this very thing on 60 minutes Sunday night. Fascinating stuff I have never even heard about. The Governor of Montana is pushing for this to be done with all the coal reserves they have there. He had a bottle of the stuff (water clear) and let the interviewer smell it. Said it smelled good.

Now where'd I put that lump of coal I got for Christmas...............................

 

[SixBuy]

By the way, Ken - How'd you join the forum in 1969? PCs weren't even around then! Wait, don't tell me - 2.8 jiggawatts and 88 mph in a deuce... You dont need any of this; just go back to when gas was 19cents/gallon.

 

[cranetruck]

Keep in mind that the main ingredient of the gas produced is carbon monoxide...invisible and deadly.

 

[ken]

Yea the 1969 date showed up when the server was switched over. I lost the rank at that time too. Although my M35 won't do 88MPH And i'm glad it won't. It's all i can do to hold it in 3 lanes at 55MPH.
I also saw the 60MIN show on the GOV and his coal. I think it's a great idea. It won't supply all the country's needs but it could drive the crude demand down. Shell has one of these plants in asia right now and anounced plans to build one in germany.
I'd like to know how many BTU's are in a gallon of syn diesel. Even at the GOV's goal of $1.53 a gallon it might not be a good deal if mileage is cut in half. With emissions being soo much lower on this stuff one would think uncle sam would be all over it.
I also read on the net a company in OK has receved a military contract to supply battlefield fuel "JP8" from this process. The company name was syn petroleum.

 

[wallew]

Yea the 1969 date showed up when the server was switched over. I lost the rank at that time too. Although my M35 won't do 88MPH And i'm glad it won't. It's all i can do to hold it in 3 lanes at 55MPH.

That last line kinda scares me. Steering problems? Bad tires? Mine holds straight and narrow. Sometimes she wallows a little when I go places that big rigs go, cause the pavement has two furrows from all the weight that's been before me. But other than that, rock steady. And this is REALLY WORN OUT NDCC TIRES!

Ken, you gotta get help for that problem. Especially in HOUSTON! Course, given the size of your truck, I would imagine MOST drivers just get out of the way. That's been my experience.

 

[Desert Rat]

Jim,

Ken's restoring his truck to museum show quality. Every once in a while he gets this wild idea to drive it when he doesn't have all the parts put back on...................... Talk about MV fever!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wyattearp]

thought i would check out this section, it interested me greatly. oh after several attempts im back, had trouble with my password and once again my plate got to full, hope you guys can forgive me... With all the wind we have had lately, i could have used a big windmill on our top ridge to power 3 houses

 

[appalacious]

Y'all ever heard of thermal depolymerization? Sounds similar, but you can use anything organic, not just wood.

 

[carguy455]

back to the future

Y'all ever heard of thermal depolymerization? Sounds similar, but you can use anything organic, not just wood.

Does that use the "Mr Fusion" system to power the flux capacitor ???



I need a life ..