Wood Gas Generator

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alt living

Planet Mechanics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator

* Wood gasifiers can power spark ignition engines where 100% of the normal petrol can be replaced with little change to the carburation.

* Efficiency rate of the gasifier system is relatively high. The gasification stage converts about 75% of fuel energy content into a combustible gas that can be used as fuel for internal combustion engines.

* This means that 1000 kg of wood combustible matter has been found to substitute 365 litres of petrol during real transportation in similar driving conditions and with the same otherwise unmodified vehicle

* Against general belief, exhaust gas emission level of internal combustion engine is significantly lower on wood gas than on petrol. Especially low are HC emissions. A normal catalytic converter works well with wood gas but even without it, emission level less than 20 ppm HC and 0,2 % CO can be easily achieved by most automobile engines. Combustion of wood gas generates no particulates and the gas thus renders very little carbon black amongst motor oil.

so? 12MJ / kg of wood?
2.5KWh / lb of wood?

20 lbs of wood = 1 gallon of gasoline

6 lbs = 1 gallon of gasoline

285 Gallons of gas in a cord of Red Oak

Wood Gas Generator

Woodfuel Facts and Figures -- http://www.yorwoods.org.uk/files/yorwoods/publications/Woodfuel%20Facts%20and%20Figures_0.pdf

^ Literature about the history and manufacture of wood and coal gas generators can be found using online book digitization projects, such as Google Books, and these often have such materials downloadable in full, as they have passed into the public domain due to their age. For example, searching for "Producer Gas", "Gas manufacture and works", or "Gas Generators" on http://books.google.com will yield many complete books on the subject that can sate the appetite of one interested in the history of technology or serve the amateur experimenter well, even dated as they are.
^ "Construction of a Simplified Wood Gas Generator for Fueling Internal Combustion Engines in a Petroleum Emergency"
^ United Nations FOA 72 document
^ World Bank technical paper 296

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Wood Gas Generator