[Gasification] Fluidyne Update

Tue Feb 24 19:28:01 CST 2015

Doug,

Congratulations on the accomplishments!!!!   Thanks for informing us.

If I had known you were in California at that time, we might have been 
able to meet.   Sorry I missed that opportunity.   Please come again 
soon, and let us know your travel plans in advance.

Paul

Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com

On 2/24/2015 12:32 PM, Doug Williams wrote:
> Fluidyne California
>
> Shasta 2 Gasifier.
>
> Since the Shasta 2 Gasifier at CalForest Nurseries in California was put
> work in February 2014 for the Winter heating, it's operation completed over
> 1,000 hours of daily operation without failure of any component. The next
> 1000 hours had failures of fuel lock seals allowing leaks into their
> actuating motors so will be now replaced with separated actuators. The
> system was able to demonstrate a push button start from cold (after checks
> to all the fuel feeding conveyors) and walk away operating reliability for
> the day/night operation.
>
> The boiler pipelines have now been extended into a second greenhouse for the
> 2015 Winter heating, and indications are that there is still plenty of
> additional heat in reserve. The first start of this year did bring surprise
> however, in that the wood chip being gasified had a moisture content of 40%.
> The Shasta 2 still made a combustible gas, but initial ignition of the
> burner nozzle was difficult on the standard air setting, so less air and it
> ignited immediately. Wet wood isn't an option but the log pile was left open
> without its covers, and a lesson was had by all concerned.
>
> Biochar Making Project.
>
> It's been almost two years since my last visit to CalForest, and my visit in
> the last week of January 2015 was of special significance to commission a
> new concept of continuous charcoal manufacture. The conceptual process was
> first proposed in 2007, but put on the back burner as the focus was on
> gasifier development for heating and engine power generation. While biochars
> have a role to play within the Nurseries of CalForest, as a commercial
> product, it's production costs are an inhibiting factor for those consumers
> who need large quantities. With forest fires a problem in many countries,
> fuel reduction programmes within forests sees large amounts of green forest
> chip becoming available, with a potential for char making.
>
> As stated, the target fuel is green forest chip, which at best does not make
> good quality char for barbecue or cooking applications. The cost in time for
> retort type charring to capture the pyrolysis gas cannot be justified if the
> end result is only a char that then needs briquetting before it can be used.
> As a tonnage production, it's application as biochar is of course dependent
> on price to the end user, and our project is designed to explore the
> potential to reduce costs of the production cycle.
>
> Starting in November 2014, the original char maker design concept was
> reviewed and a few changes made as to how the char extraction was
> accomplished, but to first prove these changes, a wooden model was built.
> Char collected from the Shasta 2 waste clean outs were used to obtain the
> fluid flows expected from forest chip fine char providing a visual
> demonstration that the extraction process was very stable across the length
> of the bed. As a base line specification, we were looking for 5-7 m3/hr, or
> roughly 1 ton/hr from about 5 ton green chip. Availability was set at a
> reasonable 1,900 hrs/year depending on location which would see a reduction
> of forest fuel of roughly about 9,500 tons/unit. With fuel flows of that
> order, we had to use the main fuel feeder conveyor of the Shasta 2 gasifier,
> combined with a lot of observation (and shouting) to run it all manually.
> The proto-type was completed in the last week of January 2015.
>
> Based on previous knowledge regarding the chars ability to retain uncracked
> pyrolysis oils and tars (creating a strong acetic or acrid smell), the need
> for a char of consistent quality and evenness of carbonisation, identified a
> design need to even out all these variables. Linked with a dwell time
> between the refuelling cycles, we soon discovered that anything less than
> complete carbonised char created operational problems to the extraction
> system, but once we learnt to start the system correctly, these issues were
> resolved.
>
> Built as a test of concept, the charmaker was proven to function within our
> pre-set design parameters, which now justifies the next phase of
> development.
> This includes a internal fuel pile leveller/refuel sensor, heat resistant
> air nozzles, and change to the extraction auger design. Flare stack closures
> will facilitate the shut down procedure, as will fuel feeder locks on the
> fuel input end to exclude all free air entry. The start-up from ignition to
> gas burning at the flare stack was faster than anticipated once we found the
> ideal air flow settings, and 5-10 minutes gave us time to be closely
> watching all the visible phenomena, especially the oxidation colour through
> the air nozzles creating temperatures well over the 1,000C. The pyrolysis
> gas was burnt to waste cleanly, demonstration that it could become a
> reliable source of close coupled heating as required.
>
> Although we have designed a charmaker for chips, it's performance factors
> should also apply to any nut shell or fruit stone/pip, which in time will be
> tested with results shown on the Fluidyne Archive files. Also to be tested
> is tar free gas extraction to run an auxiliary engine generator for stand
> alone operation of the system.
>
> Photos of this project can be seen on the Fluidyne archive
> www.fluidynenz.250x.com and will be available to see in about 7-10 days from
> this posting.
>
> Hope this is of interest to those following our development programme.
>
> Doug Williams,
> Fluidyne.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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