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<body class="hmmessage"><div>Hey Tom, met you during a cold February in Illinois at stove camp with Dr. TLUD. </div><div><br></div><div>Sure enjoyed you, appreciate your knowledge sharing and enthusiasm there. You and the crew Infected me with the bioenergy "bug" and have not been able to shake the fever since ;~)</div><div><br></div><div>As the owner of Wayne Keith's original test bed 1984 460cid Ford that he converted about 2004, I can tell you it still runs great. If I could only keep my mechanic buddy Ed from tinkering with it, it would be my daily driver. Last update was an improved automatic tranny, E4OD. For now, that requires a co-pilot to run the diagnostic computer because the 84 Ford did not have a computer onboard. There is an aftermarket computer strictly to run the tranny, but have had neither time nor money to implement.</div><div><br></div><div>Factory pellets turn to mush in Wayne's stratifed downdraft design, due to the moisture content of the pellets. Small (fist sized) wood chunks work great. Walnuts the squirrels leave behind over the winter (floaters) also work great.</div><div><br></div><div>The high propane prices this winter, started us converting hardwood pellets to heat and char in larger TLUD devices. We ended up with char in excess of what we needed for gardening along with greatly reduced heat energy price V $4.65 per gallon propane.</div><div><br></div><div>Hardwood pellets make wonderfully uniform pelletized charcoal with low tar content. Char sizing and tar content were the final known limiations of the Kalle charcoal gasifier. The Kalle was reported to run a 3-4 liter engine 60 miles per charge in a bin sized to fit neatly below hood level on the front bumper of cars-o-the-day (early 1940's).</div><div><br></div><div>We tried the pelletized charcoal in a modified S-80 sawdust gasifier and they fired up an old Case tractor first lick. After mounting the unit, and with the aid of a shop vac, it was 2 minutes from lighting char to letting out the clutch and driving the tractor on nature's finest.</div><div><br></div><div>Long way of saying taking the easy heat from pellets before using them for driving may be an appoach worthy of consideration.</div><div><br></div><div>Offset high propane costs with pellets. Offset the high cost of travel with the char left over.</div><div><br></div><div>We suspect the Wayne Keith design (a 200 liter barrel turned into a wood "hopper") filled with charred pellets instead of wood, will run the 460 cid engine at least a few hundred miles between fill-ups with the improved tranny.</div><div><br></div><div>Char packs a lot more miles per weight than hardwood. With a good use for the heat during conversion from pellets to char, we don't waste any of the energy.</div><div><br></div><div>If you are going to get the universiites involved, how about a Prius that runs coast to coast on just the char it can carry onboard with room for two passengers? </div><div><br></div><div>PS: if you are looking fora co-pilot, please put me near the top of the list ;~)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>On Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:11:04 -0500, andrew schofield <scothebuilder@hotmail.com> wrote:<br></div><br><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0.80ex; border-left: #0000FF 2px solid; padding-left: 1ex"><div dir="ltr">Dear Dr. Reed,<br><br> On your way through, please visit Argos, Indiana if you can; because the past two years in May, there has been a gathering of woodgas truck builders. Wayne Kieth of "driveonwood.com" fame has been teaching more and more people to go without gas. He has driven more miles than any other wood fueled machine has logged on US highways, and will probably motor there again all the way from Alabama. <br><br>Wouldn't that be fun?<br><br>Andrew Schofield<br><br><br><div><br><br>> Dear Peter Davies and Al:<br>> <br>> Thrree technologies are coming together <br>> <br>> o. Wood pellets are widely available throughout the US, Europe and much of the rest of the world.<br>> <br>> o. Wood pellets are an ideal oil substitute for running cars and trucks. Much better than the wood blocks used during WWII. The cost of pellet energy is 1/3 the cost of gasoline. <br>> <br>> o. Biochar is a product that should become better known and well used, since it greatly increases soil productivity, while reducing the CO2 burden on our atmosphere<br>> <br>> I intend to buy a small truck when Spring comes, convert it to producer gas from pellets and drive cross country to see my son in Long Beach (and other West coast friends)<br>> <br>> Comments?<br>> <br>> Tom Reed<br>*****<br></div> </div></blockquote><br><br><br><div id="M2Signature"><div>-- </div><div>Using Opera's mail client: <a href="http://www.opera.com/mail/">http://www.opera.com/mail/</a></div></div></body></html>