[Gasification] Gasification or Pyrolysis + Absorption Chiller for Fruit

[David House]

Friends,

On 8/14/2014 2:54 PM, Big Daddy wrote:
>
> Gentlemen,
>
> I live in the tropics (Puerto Vallarta), and have a very keen desire 
> to power a refrigeration system from gas… I always assumed it would be 
> some sort of ammonia refrigeration system, or a super-big version of 
> an RV fridge. Currently, I build charcoal retorts and charcoal 
> gasifiers… Just haven’t had time to dive into the refrigeration 
> sciences yet.
>
> Additionally, there may be a way to use “waste heat” from a retort vs. 
> direct flame… I just don’t have the numbers yet, but am very 
> interested in this thread.
>

I am ignorant in a vast array of subjects, including the fine points of 
the physics of refrigeration. That gives a context for my saying that I 
have heard that absorption cycle refrigerators (ACR)-- that is, those 
which are passive, using only convection to pump fluids-- are far less 
efficient than technologies which rely on active pumping and/or 
compressors. ACRs are often quoted as having single digit efficiencies, 
and further that in general it is more efficient to generate electricity 
and use that to power a refrigerator; although of course YMMV. If this 
is the case, then whether the working fluid is ammonia/water or some 
other, and again speaking generally, one would probably use ACR where 
there is no electricity, or where there is an abundance of heat which 
would likely otherwise be wasted, etc.

Or use a better ACR. Interestingly, Albert Einstein shares a number of 
patents directly and indirectly related to ACR technology with Leó 
Szilárd (another physicist, noted as a science fiction writer), and some 
say that their technologies offer better efficiencies.

But the final fly in the soup is that few ACR refrigerators are still 
manufactured, and as such while a discussion of the technology may be of 
interest, few of us have the machine shop, the knowledge and the skill 
to translate any of that into reality.



d.
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