Charcoal powerd Seat Arosa 1.0

Hi Kristijan, Got a little more information out of you latest post, The nozzle is actually the two copper projections connected with the ring of copper, correct? If this is the case, my concern is the distance from the end of the nozzle to the coiled copper gas grate. If your engine is pulling chargas really hard, it is possible the oxidation lobe may extend to far and not have enough oxidizing charcoal to convert the CO2 to CO. Test runs will confirm this, but it could be a problem. Make sure you are using small diameter charcoal. Something about the size of your little fingernail or smaller. There is not much room between your nozzles and the gas outlet so there is a real possibility of hot CO2 making its way past large pieces of charcoal and not getting reduced into CO.
Iā€™ll state again, do not be in a big hurry to hook up the engine exhaust, With the steam injection, you will need some higher heats and the exhaust gas may keep that from happening, Hey, that is FREE advice so it is only as good as it cost! :smile: or maybe less.
Gary in PA

3 Likes

Wooops, Hit the Reply button too soon. the following sentence needs reworded: The concern is not having enough ā€¦REDUCING charcoal to convert the CO2 to CO. Kind of an important point!!!
,[quote=ā€œglgilmore, post:21, topic:2181ā€]
If your engine is pulling chargas really hard, it is possible the oxidation lobe may extend to far and not have enough oxidizing charcoal to convert the CO2 to CO.
[/quote]

5 Likes

The distance from nozzle to the grid is my bigest concern. I had to make it so short becouse of lack of space. It measures just about 20cm long but we will se what wil hapen today on the first run. In a worst case I wil have to reorganize the whole setup moveing the nozzle back.

1 Like

I just came in from a very sucsessful test. I started the gen with a small 12v fan and hooked the gen on the car air intake by a vacuum cleaner hose. It has a small slideing valve like thing on it so this was my air/gas mixing valve. Opend it on full. I started the engine on gasoline and pluged the fuel pump out. The engine rpm fall a bit but came right back on. I stept on the gas pedal and it roard like an engry lion. I thod to my self sh*t this damn thing runs on gasoline with no gas pump with its own suction. It turned out that was not the case here and the engine ran butifuly on good old natural charcoal. I am amazed on the performance of the gen atleast in neutral. I culd not detect ANY diference in noise, idle or throtle response. Great day for a wood gas enthusiast!

I am now going to empty the gen and see what it looks like after the first run.
Have to say that Gary was absolutley right on the exhaust return. It seems that steam alone was a powerful enough coolant for the reaction and there will be no need for a exhaust return. One thing less to take care of!

12 Likes

I guess youā€™ll be needing one of those lemons that Wayne is always sucking on to wipe the silly grin off your face.

7 Likes

Congratulations! Keep on posting. Canā€™t wait to hear more about ā€œLion 1.0ā€ :smile:

5 Likes

Great job Kristijan!

Any chance we can see a video of it running?

3 Likes

Gary, can you explain this a little more? Where does the nitrogen go?

2 Likes

Don, the steam ads aditional H2 and CO (C+H2O->CO+H2) and trerfore more steam you use less air for the amount of gas is draged in to the generator. Less air means less nitrogen. Water basicly substitutes a part of the air.

7 Likes

Good explanation KristijanL
Yes steam works in charcoal gasifier because you have the excessive thermal/heat energy to drive the reaction. Reaction is just chemically storing that excessive thermal energy for later in the engine use.
( steam added to a raw wood fuel gasifier will thermal quench it killing the reactions needed. they are thermal deficit having to thermally cook the wood )
No magic, or free lunches (energy) to any of this. Science.
Best Regards
Steve Unruh

4 Likes

I did a test drive yesterday. The litle thing runs great! Started on petrol and then swiched to charcoal. I wuld say it has about 30% power loss wich is more thain great for me. I wasnt able to drive for to long becouse the gas cooling isnt ready yet (cant find a water pump 12V) so I just filled the cooler with cold water and drove until the water came up to cca 50*c (about 3km uphill and back).
I alsow made an observation today when I drove to work in the morning (on petrol). When I started the cold engine it smoaked black like an 100 year old diesel until it got to temperature. It looks like the same computer petrol injection faliure Gary Gilmore experianced on his Ford ranger but as long as it runs that puff of black smoke doesent matter to me.
I alsow tryed runing the generator without steam and the car culdnt eaven climb a small hill in front of the house. No problem with the steam on. Its amazing how much gas energy value steam gives to you over exhaust return or just plain air!
Has anyone got an idea where to get a 12V dc water pump? The aquarium shop hasnt got anything of interestā€¦

4 Likes

Maybe water pump from a camping caravanā€¦?

1 Like

Hello Kristijan.

I donā€™t know how big a water pump you need but if for spraying a little water you might consider a windshield washer motor .

Several years back experimenting spraying a little water in the gasifier or the heat exchanger the little motor worked well for me .

I discovered with raw wood gasifier no water is needed .

1 Like

That might just work thanks:)

The pump will run non stop becouse the gas is water cooled. The water for the steem injection is a separate line and doesent need a pump.

2 Likes

Glad to hear things are going well.
For the water pump Iā€™ve seen auxiliary pumps in cooling systems on foreign cars (Iā€™m in the US) for a long time. Some BMW, Audi, VW and Mercedes that Iā€™ve seen in the junkyards have had these. Not sure how much flow they would have on their own though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Volkswagen-Golf-Audi-TT-Electric-Water-Pump-Engine-Auxiliary-Water-Pump-New-/231734482195?hash=item35f4739513:g:ebMAAOxyni9TCL5H&vxp=mtr

2 Likes

Ran across this video today and thought of your quest for a pump.

5 Likes

Neat video Andy!!

A washing machine pump ( water dump / discharge pump ) might work ??

Would those be 12VDC pumps though? Unless they were from an RV washing machine (pricey), Iā€™d guess they would probably be 120VAC.

The other problem with an electric washing machine pump is it only has a 30 percent duty cycle,or most that i have used too recirculate hot water, they over heat shut down a while before they turning back on and the bearings only good for a few months running non stop.

1 Like

Thanks Brian and Kevin .

I over looked the 12 volt request :confounded:

1 Like