Welcome to the DOW DanH.
Good DOing you are achieving. Since you did ask for suggestions . . .
Best charcoal that I’ve made WAS in a Quarafire stove produced, hot. Then as you do, put hot into a metal air tight container. THEN stuff those containers into a snow bank to cool. Winter heating; folks expect a little woodfire smoke and smell.
On vehicle unit labeling???
As much as some of us want to promote . . .
As much as some of us would like to “in your face!” shout out . . . ENERGY FREEDOM!
Best, I think to be a little conservative.
Charcoal Powered says “a carbon monoxide hazard producer” to anyone with firefighting, or safety training.
Here in my over-Green state of Washington “WoodPowered” will have Greenie’s chucking coffee containers at you for rape/killing “thier” sacred trees idols.
And I’ve had more than a few tell me now that I am a tax-cheat. That I am NOT supporting a modern (consumer) society. UNFAIR! That I/we have the trees to be able to independtly Power Out Lives. Neighbor gal in a 3500 square foot house with an additional enclosed additional 2000 square foot swimming pool told me that. They heat All with trucked in propane. Lots, and lots of propane.
I’d suggest: “Solar Bio-Carbon-Air Cell Powered” It’s True!
Then read the eyes with your face to face explaining. Be flexible on those explanations.
Ha! And I NEVER wear back side logo printed clothing where I cannot SEE the reactions. Read the Ayes. Read the Nays.
Regards
Steve Unruh
I prefer “bio char powered” for some reason biochar is cool and green, charcoal is rainforest destroying desertification causing… Good rebranding whoever did it… Love the van. really like the crusher sieve combo. I need a better processing technique…
Best regards, David Baillie
I am so glade you posted a van I have been teasing my wife for a while we have 2 caravans and I think that would be awesome the wife not so much.but I love seeing it thanks.
Dan, I like your charcoal processor. The pics don’t show the motor. I am guessing it is underneath somewhere and connected to the bike sprocket. How fast does it turn and how fast can you feed it? How long does it take to fill that tub? A video would be nice. Hint, Hint.
The fact that the gasifier is a CO producer may not be readily known to most people, even with the lettering, and might not add any additional significance to the already well known CO potential of any fuel burning machine. What I’m saying is that anything burning gasoline, diesel fuel, etc is already well known to produce CO, so I’m not sure if I should be worried about anyone’s reaction in that context. Steve, your idea on the labeling is definitely good, and its funny how “biochar” marks a different political boundary than “charcoal” while referring to the same thing (in this case).
Don, the motor driving the charcoal processor is a small gear motor, probably 1/25 hp and that sprocket is on the output shaft. It turns the trommel screen at roughly 60 rpm, about 1 revolution per second. I can run a 55-gallon drum’s worth through pretty quickly, I don’t know exactly but maybe 15-20 minutes. Here’s a video: http://youtu.be/jq7hEFuvi_U
Dan, that is a very cool video. I like the loose roller to do the crushing. I have seen a much larger unit for topsoil sifting. It had a funnel arrangement that fed the material into the rotating drum. Maybe less labour feeding it? Sometime this winter I will have to build one… Thanks again.
Dan, I like your heating stove method of making charcoal because you use the heat of the wood while making charcoal. I use the double barrel method which is quick and clean but I waste the heat. How I make charcoal - YouTube
I don’t have photos of it yet, but I need to empty out the gasifier to re-seal the hearth soon. There is no ash cleanout. At the temperatures generally encountered, there aren’t too many ashes–only a big clinker-ball that forms below the hearth, that I remove once in a while. I’d be curious myself, what other people do about ashes.
On other units, there’s usually a clean out under the hearth for ashes. If you get a chance at the new clean out, would you mind taking a few pictures for me? I think you’ve come up with a novel approach to the air intake issue.
We ran our test unit for ~8 hours, and we noticed such a small amount of ash (less than a tablespoon) in the ash grate, so we are doing away with it completely. The cyclone filter is catching most of the ash (a few tablespoons).
We were running at a pretty good rate… Approximately 2.0L/sec of air or 4.23 SCFM…
I do think we split water, but I don’t know how much. After we get our gas analyzed, I’ll know if it was H2, HNO3, or a combination… We plan on insulating the core so the temps go up even more, which will driv in more steam for cooling / balancing.
Some of the old books show that with enough steam, you displace the ambient air, and thus reduce nitrogen intake.
There is no such thing as HNO3 in gasyfying and if you could, then we would become rich…
referring to the pages in the book (page 3 to be correct), CO slow pale blue, feebly luminous flame, H2 fast pale blue almost non-luminous flame.
The mix of 2 flame speeds makes it vigorous
Keep your airspeed higher then your flame-speed and install some “blowback check valve”
The flame speed is characteristic for your mixture containing a high level of H2
Combusting H2 will produce water vapor at the flame-tops playing with the surrounding air.
If the surrounding air is cool, you will clearly see the steam appear at the condensation point
The air needed for combustion also plays a role in the appearance.
You almost have a jet-engine going on there, maybe time to deliver some fuel at NASA ?
you are a chemical teacher? you are humble? From your replies I understand that you don’t are nothing of these. The thread is open if you don’t want reply make an private forum.
