Looking for a bulletproof, slow speed engine, with no valves? You may want to consider the Ajax engine. These 2 ton monsters are a throwback from the days of steam. The original Ajax engines were steam, but in 1895 Ajax Iron Works added a gas version that you can still find today.
Traditionally used for oil… Continue
Added by ben on November 25, 2009 at 8:26am —
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Syngas filtration is done best and easiest when it is accomplished in multiple temperature ranges. Soot and ash are easy to isolate in hot gas filtration because water and tar are above their dew points. Tars and phenols are best condensed next and finally water vapor is the last to be removed. While this is usually the ideal way to filter it isn't always the cheapest. Below are some suppliers and their filtering technologies for high temperature filtration.
Ceramic Hot Filters… Continue
Added by ben on November 19, 2009 at 10:21am —
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Carbon sequestration is a popular topic garnering a range of ideas for it's solution, ranging from underground carbon sequestration through CO2 injection to biochar to CO2 engines. Lets take a look at some of the technologies being promoted.
Underground injection- Coal faci… Continue
Added by ben on November 17, 2009 at 9:17am —
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From Biomass Magazine
Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy talked about the direction the DOE is taking to accelerate the development of algae-based biofuels at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy held this week in Honolulu, Hawaii. She said the agency intends to develop advanced biofuels—hydrocarbons and other high-density fuels that can be drop in replacements for diesel and gasoline—in a more accelerated fashion than cel… Continue
Added by ben on November 14, 2009 at 8:33am —
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Chris Seymour is going to be sharing with us some of his research into GTL and I am playing around with Fischer Tropsch refitting on the Off Gridder so it is time for a group.
Liquid fuels make sense for a variety of reasons, but mostly energy storage and synergy with current infrastructure. It also releases heat t… Continue
Added by ben on November 8, 2009 at 10:13pm —
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I have been watching the dollar fall as of late and as a consequence I have watched stainless steel prices rise dramatically in the last few months. Some stock is up as much as 50%, ouch!
Another topic we covered at the workshop is the balance of air/gas flow and reaction area in a gasifier. This is one of the key points to making a consistent quality and volume of wood gas and it's rarely talked about.
Flow is the amount of gas that can pas… Continue
Added by ben on November 1, 2009 at 11:51am —
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Our friends over at Biomass Magazine are holding two events that you will want to attend in 2010.
The Pacific West Biomass Conference & Expo will focus on the western U.S. and be held January 11-13th, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, CA.
Then… Continue
Added by ben on November 1, 2009 at 8:33am —
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We covered lot's of valuable information at last weekend's gasifier workshop. One of the main concepts a gasifier owner must understand is proper hearth sizing. Proper hearth sizing is key to getting engine quality fuel gas.
The Kalle Gasifier is a vintage design that used charcoal for it's fuel source. This was the preferred method for fueling cars during WWII because it was lighter and required less cleanup systems than wood. Contrary to popular belief, charcoal still has some volitiles that… Continue
Added by ben on October 28, 2009 at 7:33pm —
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From Biomass Magazine
Treating renewable energy the same as fossil energy thwarts the goal of reducing climate change. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today reacted to the publication in Science magazine (Searchinger et al, "Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error," Science, v326(527-528) of a proposal to count international emissions against U.S. renewable biomass production.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial & Environmental Section, stated, "Bi… Continue
Added by ben on October 28, 2009 at 6:07pm —
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Who would have thought in the days of the mainframe computer that someday we would each have our own personal computers? Putting that processing power in our hands has changed the world. Now we have the internet, personal publishing and digital everything.
Some… Continue
Added by ben on October 24, 2009 at 8:30am —
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One of the persistent challenges of gasification has always been a way to quickly and economically process wood fuels for the proper sizing that a gasifier needs. To date the best results are told to have come from conical screw chippers. They are self feeding, non splint… Continue
Added by ben on October 19, 2009 at 7:20am —
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Lot's of people ask me what a good setup is for a gasifier system. Here is a layout for a shed that gives you passive solar drying, overhang to keep your gasifier dry & ventilated, engine room, wood storage, and space for your battery/inverter. It's essentially a stealth power station that won't aro… Continue
Added by ben on October 3, 2009 at 9:01am —
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Woody Gasifier announces the release of the Off Gridder, the first multi-fuel gasifier for the home power generation market. Using wood pellets, wood chunks, chips and certain types of agricultural waste, it is able to meet the power needs of an efficient home in as little as 2-4 hours a day. Beneficial bi-products include heat for hot water and biochar for gardening.
… Continue
Added by ben on September 27, 2009 at 8:22pm —
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Ready to learn how to operate a gasifier the right way from start to finish? Good, because I would love to show you. It's not obvious and while the videos help, nothing replaces real hands on experience. Along with making you a competent operator I want to answer your most common question "How do I hook this thing up to an engine?"… Continue
Added by ben on September 22, 2009 at 9:20pm —
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I posted this in the charcoal gasification group and thought some of you might like it too.
As someone that makes charcoal I can say that its time consuming and requires some real effort. So much so that I would usually dismiss it as a fuel source because I know people are just too unmotivated to do it. And if nobody will do it, then whats the point.
That being said. Here is my idea on how to make a practi… Continue
Added by ben on September 15, 2009 at 2:59pm —
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Another topic we covered at the workshop is the balance of air/gas flow and reaction area in a gasifier. This is one of the key points to making a consistent quality and volume of wood gas and it's rarely talked about.
Flow is the amount of gas that can pas… Continue
