Posted by Curbie on October 22, 2009, 6:42 pm
Hi Ulysses, (long time)
>I don't know about algae but when this subject was discussed here (not too
>long ago) bamboo seemed to be a consideration as a fuel source. To me the
>appeal of woodgas/producer gas is that a crop could be grown specifically
>for fuel--a renewable energy source. Whenever woodgas is mentioned somebody
>usually jumps in with the "cut down all the trees" reaction which does not
>seem to be very well thought out. As Jim Wilkins just pointed out all the
>waste from the lumber industry could probably be used as fuel plus there is
>a substantial amount of waste wood etc from many sources that could probably
>be used.
From reading about the process, it seems the fuel has two functions
first to generate sacrificial heat for the charcoal (carbon), and
secondly to turn into charcoal itself to replace the charcoal consumed
in the gasification process.
I'm not trying to "hug a tree" it just seems to me that if what the
process is after is charcoal (carbon), algae may be a suitable annual
feedstock, given the time it takes to grow a tree? If you could get
waste wood (sawdust or chips) from my reading you may be in the same
boat as growing a feedstock such as algae, in that the loose or fine
fuel source needs pre-processing to form a bricket so when the bricket
turns to charcoal (carbon) it won't be so fine as to slip through the
grate or "bridge" the grate and starve or impede gasification.
It seems either sawdust/chips or algae would have to be preprocessed
and pressed into brickets.
If this has already been discussed out here I'll look up the thread on
google.
Curbie
Posted by Ulysses on October 23, 2009, 3:50 pm
> Hi Ulysses, (long time)
> >I don't know about algae but when this subject was discussed here (not
too
> >long ago) bamboo seemed to be a consideration as a fuel source. To me
the
> >appeal of woodgas/producer gas is that a crop could be grown specifically
> >for fuel--a renewable energy source. Whenever woodgas is mentioned
somebody
> >usually jumps in with the "cut down all the trees" reaction which does
not
> >seem to be very well thought out. As Jim Wilkins just pointed out all
the
> >waste from the lumber industry could probably be used as fuel plus there
is
> >a substantial amount of waste wood etc from many sources that could
probably
> >be used.
> From reading about the process, it seems the fuel has two functions
> first to generate sacrificial heat for the charcoal (carbon), and
> secondly to turn into charcoal itself to replace the charcoal consumed
> in the gasification process.
> I'm not trying to "hug a tree" it just seems to me that if what the
> process is after is charcoal (carbon), algae may be a suitable annual
> feedstock, given the time it takes to grow a tree? If you could get
> waste wood (sawdust or chips) from my reading you may be in the same
> boat as growing a feedstock such as algae, in that the loose or fine
> fuel source needs pre-processing to form a bricket so when the bricket
> turns to charcoal (carbon) it won't be so fine as to slip through the
> grate or "bridge" the grate and starve or impede gasification.
> It seems either sawdust/chips or algae would have to be preprocessed
> and pressed into brickets.
Part of the appeal of biomass gasification, to me anyway, is being able to
use a variety of materials as fuel without very much processing. Once you
start expending energy to process sawdust, algae, etc I think it's time to
re-evaluate and determine if the net gain in energy is sufficient to make
the project worthwhile. I just happen to have a lot of wood chips that may
already be suitable for use without any additional processing. But, I have
not begun to build a gasifier mainly because once you start gathering up all
the parts needed and figuring out exactly how you are going to construct it
things become far more complicated than they first appeared. It seems to be
terribly important to have NO leaks due to the risk of explosion or death
from CO poisoning. Plus the amount of CO that can be produced can be very
lethal in small amounts so this must also be considered.
> If this has already been discussed out here I'll look up the thread on
> google.
> Curbie
Posted by nospam on October 23, 2009, 4:32 pm
Ulysses wrote:
>> Hi Ulysses, (long time)
>>
>>> I don't know about algae but when this subject was discussed here (not
> too
>>> long ago) bamboo seemed to be a consideration as a fuel source. To me
> the
>>> appeal of woodgas/producer gas is that a crop could be grown specifically
>>> for fuel--a renewable energy source. Whenever woodgas is mentioned
> somebody
>>> usually jumps in with the "cut down all the trees" reaction which does
> not
>>> seem to be very well thought out. As Jim Wilkins just pointed out all
> the
>>> waste from the lumber industry could probably be used as fuel plus there
> is
>>> a substantial amount of waste wood etc from many sources that could
> probably
>>> be used.
>> From reading about the process, it seems the fuel has two functions
>> first to generate sacrificial heat for the charcoal (carbon), and
>> secondly to turn into charcoal itself to replace the charcoal consumed
>> in the gasification process.
>>
>> I'm not trying to "hug a tree" it just seems to me that if what the
>> process is after is charcoal (carbon), algae may be a suitable annual
>> feedstock, given the time it takes to grow a tree? If you could get
>> waste wood (sawdust or chips) from my reading you may be in the same
>> boat as growing a feedstock such as algae, in that the loose or fine
>> fuel source needs pre-processing to form a bricket so when the bricket
>> turns to charcoal (carbon) it won't be so fine as to slip through the
>> grate or "bridge" the grate and starve or impede gasification.
>>
>> It seems either sawdust/chips or algae would have to be preprocessed
>> and pressed into brickets.
>
> Part of the appeal of biomass gasification, to me anyway, is being able to
> use a variety of materials as fuel without very much processing. Once you
> start expending energy to process sawdust, algae, etc I think it's time to
> re-evaluate and determine if the net gain in energy is sufficient to make
> the project worthwhile. I just happen to have a lot of wood chips that may
> already be suitable for use without any additional processing. But, I have
> not begun to build a gasifier mainly because once you start gathering up all
> the parts needed and figuring out exactly how you are going to construct it
> things become far more complicated than they first appeared. It seems to be
> terribly important to have NO leaks due to the risk of explosion or death
> from CO poisoning. Plus the amount of CO that can be produced can be very
> lethal in small amounts so this must also be considered.
>
>
>> If this has already been discussed out here I'll look up the thread on
>> google.
>>
>> Curbie
>>
>
>
One could turn wood chips, straw, grass, hemp, leaves etc. into pellets
with one of these:http://www.pelletpros.com/id68.html
Posted by Curbie on October 23, 2009, 7:07 pm
On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:32:46 -0400, nospam@nevis.com wrote:
>One could turn wood chips, straw, grass, hemp, leaves etc. into pellets
>with one of these:http://www.pelletpros.com/id68.html
Thanks, I was going to search around to one of these, anyone have a
link to how one of these work or a DIY link?
Curbie
Posted by nospam on October 24, 2009, 1:24 am
Curbie wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:32:46 -0400, nospam@nevis.com wrote:
>
>> One could turn wood chips, straw, grass, hemp, leaves etc. into pellets
>> with one of these:http://www.pelletpros.com/id68.html
>
> Thanks, I was going to search around to one of these, anyone have a
> link to how one of these work or a DIY link?
>
> Curbie
Theres a couple of video's on youtube regarding their use, but I no
longer have the link.
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>long ago) bamboo seemed to be a consideration as a fuel source. To me the
>appeal of woodgas/producer gas is that a crop could be grown specifically
>for fuel--a renewable energy source. Whenever woodgas is mentioned somebody
>usually jumps in with the "cut down all the trees" reaction which does not
>seem to be very well thought out. As Jim Wilkins just pointed out all the
>waste from the lumber industry could probably be used as fuel plus there is
>a substantial amount of waste wood etc from many sources that could probably
>be used.