[Gasification] Regarding Combustion Quality of Producer gas

[doug.williams]

Hi Tom R. and Gasification Colleagues,

When Vicrant posted his original question to this forum regarding Methane Numbers, I did wonder why he would have a need to ask, especially as Cummins already use their engines for producer gas, along with Methane numbers (but probably for natural gas). 

There once was a time, when you had to ask questions of those who engaged is certain fields for their technical assistance, but today thanks to Wikipedia, terminology such as cetane, octane, and methane, plus all the associated related details, are there for dopes like me to access quickly. It certainly beats opening the office door and hunt through the dust covered files! 

http://www.cumminspower.com/www/Commercial/Set_ng50/C1750_N5C_ng50.html

These modern engines are like Tom suggests:
  
>Modern engines use knock sensors/timing to increase combustion efficiency by operating just below the knock limit.  I presume that this would greatly increase power >and efficiency of PG, but I don't know if they could increase CR enough to accommodate PG.

You can dig out all the facts for yourself, but the success of extracting the maximum energy of the producer gas is not only the engineering nuts and bolts, cams, turbo, intercoolers, compression ratios, rpm, etc, but to the software developed to manage producer gas. These are the new engines we have been waiting for, at least for clean producer gas, but even using that term can open up a can of worms for the engine warranties.


What we don't see spelt out about producer gas, is that it's variations away from what we might call "normal analysis" is infinite, and how that affects the combustion chemistry, engine operation and/or it's componentry life. That we might choose to fiddle with older basic slow speed engines to make them perform better for basic electrical and mechanical power, these modern high speed engines place real challenge on the gas making consistency. 

Gasification remains for me one of the most challenging technologies that have crossed my path, and if I think for one minute I have it by the tail, the other end will bite me given the right conditions. 

Onwards as Tom R. suggests.

Doug Williams,
Fluidyne...

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