[Gasification] Doug Williams

Fri Jul 13 13:49:45 CDT 2012

For those who are new, Tom Reed is actually the living gasification legend as I and many other researchers and developers benefited very much from his books and publications.  What scientific publication Doug Williams has a part from his web site to sell world war-II downdraft gasifiers ? I do not think worldwide Gasification community can benefit so much from commercially sensitive people like Doug Williams. Tom Reed was the most reliable resource that the Gasification community relied so far because he shared everything that he discovered. Kev Makeza From: thomas at dalsonenergy.com
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 11:17:44 -0800
To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Doug Williams

Well put, as usual, Doug.For those who are new, Doug is one of the longest-standing and most reliable resources that the worldwide Gasification community has to rely on for reality-based perspectives.

Thomas Deerfield, President
Dalson Energy, Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska
(907) 277-7900
Renewable Energy SolutionsEnergy Efficiency & ConservationBiomass SpecialistsConsulting & Project Coordination
Dalson Energy, where evolution is valued over predictability.

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Identifying and fixing technical and commercial
      roadblocks to commercial small-scale CHP gasifiers (doug.williams)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 18:19:15 +1200
From: "doug.williams" <Doug.Williams at orcon.net.nz>
To: "Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification"
	<gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Identifying and fixing technical and
	commercial	roadblocks to commercial small-scale CHP gasifiers
Message-ID: <7C98EDEDCDDD4AF79AD7548BA30C4CDA at dougspc>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Gasification Colleagues,

I must say I have enjoyed the recent discussions initiated by Tom Miles, that has bought to the surface, some of the experiences which as manufacturers of gasifiers, we face in the market place. Other than those who are only just discovering gasification, enthusiasm to use the technology in a market dominated by fossil fuels, is less than encouraging, but as addicts of gasification, I guess that we believe in what we do, at least, most of the time (:-) 

To dwell on the negatives however, doesn't help us to answer those asking questions to arrive at the right or appropriate answers.  While we can point to certain successes, or technical achievements at all levels of gasified applications, the development work to interface gasifiers in commercially visible installations, still needs vigorous unbiased scrutiny. Not every thing that whistles and shines, no matter who makes it, can be proof that it works as it should.

I'm intrigued by Colin's question of how long should a gasifier be tested before declaring it commercial, because the reply depends on who's asking the question, consultant or manufacturer.  Each have their own set of responsibilities. Insurances on which your guarantees may rely, especially Public Liability, may place limitations on conditions of supply, so the market you need, may have no protection if outside of the country of manufacture. As you add the liabilities that may accumulate as a condition of supply, the "testing period" needs to cover all those things that could invoke any financial penalty clauses.

For what it is worth, drawing from our own commercializing programme begun in 1984, we sent the same design of gasifier to Fiji, Malaysia, South Africa, and Maine USA. In the differing environments of temperatures and high altitudes, we had to test for a base line for performance that was consistent across all conditions, more a test of our finances than that of the gasifier. That took two years alone, but worth the effort not to have any nasty surprises in the remote  Highlands of Central PNG. 

If you add to this a two thousand hour engine test conducted by Listers NZ, before arriving at the testing of the final design, you may get some idea of just how much time based experience is needed. Short cuts cost money, usually somebody else's! Shiny nuts and bolts cannot fix a flawed philosophy of gas making, but many with questions, have little appreciation of how environmental factors can affect gasification behavior. It's not only about how many have been supplied,  but tested performance across the conditions that limit their reliability. You just cannot do all this in the cloistered protection of a home base.

Hope this may be of some help Colin.

Doug Williams,
Fluidyne Gasification.
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