Alternate Fuels and Processing

General Discussion
#21

Hi Jeff i havent even set up with charco gasifier yet, though it seems a lot of waiste of fines in charco grinding, has any body come up with a cheap glue too make briquettes out of the fines yet.? looks like enjoyment step ONE Complete.

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#22

Hi Kevin, not enough fines too bother with when fueling small engine. I like the fines to go into the ground. I think of it as a soil tax to help the next crop of trees. In the past I have used boiled starch as a binder for switch grass charcoal. No idea if it would hold up in a gasifier.

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#23

Ok thanks Jeff i may try that boiled starch sometime, ground up newspapper may work as binder i heard may allso be posible in gasifier briquette makeing .

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#24

Wood flour is sometimes used as a binder. I’ve seen it used to help bind foundry sand. It’s just very fine sawdust. So you probably have some handy already. Just use the right mesh sieve.
Rindert

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#25

I have also used algae, from my pond, as a binder. I think I used it to bind sawdust from a band sawmill.

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#26

With regard to foundry sand, wood flour is not the binder.a small percentage is added to hold moisture. It is clay that actually does the binding

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#27

I came across this earlier. Indian researchers are developing new types of hydrogen fuel generators.

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#28

hydrogen storage is the first thing that needs to be fixed…
useless if you can’t store enough fuel…

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#29

I store all the hydrogen I can store safely, it is stored in my solar cells made from wood. Last for years. Some of the wood I have is 25 years old.
Bob

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#30

Steve Unruh suggested I post these links about diesel for discussion here:

and on topic, as in “been there, done that” from the 1930’s ! -
automotivehistory dot org/first-diesel-road-trip/

and lastly, how to roll your own (pun intended) -

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#31

There is a guy Ive been talking too that makes a kit. I think biodiesel combined woodgas would be the ultimate marriage. The engines are more robust, the boidiesel will keep tar at bay etc. The two together solve the issues each have in standalone formats. Biodiesel has its own set of issues.

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#32

I’ve heard biodiesel has a detergent-like characteristic to clean out engine deposits. As you say - that might be just the ticket for an engine that ends up seeing a little tar from woodgas despite best efforts.

Diesel engines are high compression as a rule and lower RPM. That would help make the most of the fuel gas.

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#33

Honestly, if you are going to ‘marry’ gasification and gen1 biodiesel. You are probably better off to skip the biodiesel part and just drip straight veggie oil into the gasifier or carb or however you were doing it.

And if you aren’t going to store the veggie oil, you can modify the engine by increasing the pressure and opening the nozzles.

Depending on the desired outcome, you can add oil seeds to the gasifier and skip all the processing.

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#34

Well Im afraid Im going to have to pass that torch on. Im done with this and moving on. My RC business is starting to gain traction now and Im selling completed custom built units. There is way better money in it and its WAAAAYY easier on this old body. TOG will remain active but Im jacking up the pricing this spring so there will be less sales. If I never build another gasifeir again Ill be just fine with that :slight_smile: The market is just too wild and unrpredictable.

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#35

Congrats on that!! It is great news!! :slight_smile: I wasn’t sure if you were still using the generators or heating the shop with wood still or not. :slight_smile:

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#36

I heat with diesel lol

I have down sized the generators to the 4375 though. With the current situation I dont need anything bigger. As long as my batteries are full i can run the CNC machine and run the Aim power units to direct charger verses pass thru via the inverters charging system. One reason I want to get the chargverter.

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#37

I figured you heated with wood, plus something like diesel because your shop has a lot of space, and you had that charmaker. But that could also get dust and dirt where you really don’t want it.

You may not be using the shop much at all anyway, the RC business seemingly wouldn’t take nearly as much space except for the 3d printers.

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#38

I have a brand new RV now and I will never heat with wood again in this one. The smoke ruined the last one. In the shop i have the retort set up but havent been out there in months. So its just not worth the effort to heat with wood right now. The only way Ill heat with wood is if SHTF and Im forced too. lol

Shop yes if I have it, the RV nope aint doing it. I have one of those diesel parking heaters and that thing is so efficient its not worth the effort to heat with wood. My is better spent converting my labor into dollars and just buying diesel.

Ive downsized the weld fab area and condensed down to a smaller portion of the shop to make room for the Truck and Nova restorations. Im going to convert my old RV into a mobile work shop for the 3D printing business and other stull Ill be doing with carbon fiber.

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#39

Congrats! I didn’t know you got a new RV. It is probably much better insulated as well.
I wouldn’t heat with wood inside the thing either. If I wanted to heat with wood, I would do more like a wood boiler type of thing.

Are you making carbon fiber structural parts for the RC’s and doing the laminating, or are you just using 3d printer filament? I was looking at it when I was looking at drone stuff.

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#40

Not yet but that is the plan. Ill be using a lexan vacuum forming process as well. Going to develop carbon fiber C channel frame rails for these crawlers. Big money in that and no one is doing it yet. Simalar but not exact C channels like the real truck frames have.

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