[Stoves] CHAR-gasification for IC engine operations --- was Re: [biochar] Julien Winter: a soil scientist in name but not in practice.

[Paul Anderson]

Crispin and all,

(First statement is well known by you and others, but sets the stage for 
the next comments.)
Char-gasification gives quite clean gases and is different from biomass 
gasification in which pyrolysis gases are also produced and must be be 
dealt with (removed or converted to cleaner combustibles.)

Most of the 1 to 2 million "gasifier vehicles" during 1930 to 1945 were 
with CHAR-gasification.   But the forests were being depleted by the 
char-making, so interest shifted to gasifiers of raw biomass (mainly 
wood, resulting in "woodgas").   When WW II ended, petroleum took over.

So, you are correct that CHAR-gasification can give the energy for 
internal combustion engines.

NOTE:  With more sophisticated equipment (and costing more money), raw 
biomass can and is being used to give gaseous fuel (often called syngas 
or producer gas) to IC engines, as is done by All Power Labs and by much 
larger gasifier systems, but that is a very different topic and is the 
focus of the Gasification Listserv (which has almost no discussions 
about TLUD gasification or stoves).

Two main things have changed since 1945 concerning the topic of 
CHAR-gasification for engine operations:

1.  Vast improvements in engine technology (although focused on fossil 
fuels, not on CHAR-gas.)

2.  The advent of the TLUD technology has placed char-production as a 
by-product or co-product of household cooking with biomass (plus the 
advantages of better health from cleaner cooking when the TLUD stoves 
are made and operated correctly).

There is still some activity about CHAR-gasification for engine power.   
The focal person in the USA is Gary Gilmore, a forester in western 
Pennsylvania.   Gary leads a small group with a listserv about this 
topic.   I request that Gary (who is receiving a copy of this message 
and is on the Biochar Listserv -- but not on the Stoves Listserv) send 
us a summary/introductory statement and website addresses, etc., and 
help us all get up to speed on this important topic.   I have met Gary 
and affirm that he is innovative, solid with the technology, generously 
helpful, and an actual user of char-gasifiers in several functional devices.

Comment:  As Crispin points out, this is ANOTHER possible 
use/destination of char from char-producing stoves and larger devices.  
The use are:

a.  Burn the char in appropriately designed charcoal-burning stoves.
b.  Place the char into soils, as biochar.
c.  Consume the char in char-gasifiers to produce combustible gases for 
IC engines for generating electricity or motive power.
d.  Waste the char (by letting it smolder away uselessly or by dumping 
it in useless places).

Note that both b. and d. (the dumping part) above result in carbon 
removal from the atmosphere, and are therefore favored by some.

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 5/9/2014 2:49 AM, ajheggie at gmail.com wrote:
> [Default] On Fri, 9 May 2014 08:07:13 +0700,Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
> <crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:
>
>> I just saw a small internal combustion engine which runs on gas produced by a charcoal gasifier.
>>
>> The gasifier is about the size of a large domestic stove and holds 7 kg of charcoal or so. From what I understand so far it is a) very simple to make and operate, b) has none of the problems which make pyrolysis gas difficult to clean for use in an engine and c) will operate an engine using about 3.5 kg per hour. I will get photos.
>>
>> Indonesia has more than 10,000 occupied islands. Some of them have a lot of waste biomass, or just lots, or agricultural products including sawdust. Many only have diesel powered electricity.
>   
>> If the char from a stove was suitably sized by planning the system as an integrated unit, then water pumping, oil pressing and electricity generation could be performed by very simple equipment. Candle nut shells are a good candidate for this as Nurhuda has already demonstrated making good quality char from a stove.
> We had this discussion in the late 90s before biochar emerged as a use
> for small sizes of charcoal.
>
> I remember discussing the Kalle gasifier, this was a WW2 device that
> was basically a tin can with a central inlet which could be agitated
> 11RC.
>
> As the charcoal would tend to an equilibrium temperature over 1000C
> there was a thermostatically controlled feedback path from the engine
> exhaust to the inlet to keep this temperature lower as the up to 15%
> of the recycled CO2 would react with the hot char and be reduced
> endothermically to CO.
>
> The resulting producer gas was chiefly CO and Nitrogen. As it largely
> lacked the hydrogen of woodgas flame speeds and calorific  value were
> lower, substantially reducing engine power and speed.
>
> As you say this char could be bought from small producers and power a
> simple genset or pump, displacing some diesel. Whilst it would be
> naturally cleaner of tars than woodgas I suspect it would still need
> more oil changes and maintenance than refined diesel.
>
>
>
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