I see the design has changed a little and now a mid size pickup truck.
I haven’t been able to come up with a couple tons of coffee but would be great if I did.
For the areas that have plenty of wood and little coffee we may have to continue as is.
Also it appears the coffee truck went 1600 miles in two weeks. The waste saw mill wood took me 1800 miles week before last. In the fall of 2008 waste wood took the wood burner 7388 miles in two weeks
Please don’t think I down on coffee, I am enjoying a cup right now.
World record is now 65.5 MPH (although the video says 66.5) “for coffee powered vehicles”. Notice it’s not biomass powered vehicles, that title still belongs to Wayne.
Looks to me like he added about half wood to the gasifier. Not even straight coffee.
On the other hand, they’re running a Ford P100 car/truck which has a 2.0L engine, and it looks stock. Decent speed for such a small engine.
Since it looks like all you need is an airport, may be we should call up Guinness and have them time Wayne. He’ll probably hit 90 or so this time.
Jump to 1:20 and he shows doing “a full service on the gasifier”. This apparently includes a complete changing of the filter material ( I think he says it’s hair?) which is full of tar… this after 130 or so miles.
And then he shows cleaning out the ash bin – which is held on by 25 bolts. Not exactly user friendly…
Very old style design. 1600 miles in two weeks is not much for one day. You can drive 1600 miles in three days, if you have a good and well made wodgas car. 66 mph is not very much either. Top speed over 100 mph would be worth of celebration.
Hi Wayne; I just left them a comment on a quality fab job, but ask them why they would make something that runs on a fuel as expensive as coffee.I was thinking of converting my gasifier to run on $5.00 bills. Dan
Let’s give them a little credit, they are actually running on the hulls, not the beans themselves. They make pellets out of this “chaff” and burn them that way. However I do agree it is a very VERY limited application, unlike wood which is (nearly) everywhere. Does anyone here have access to a coffee processing plant? I sure don’t…
Here’s what the chaff looks like. It’s a waste product from the roasting process. Grocery canned coffee usually has this mixed back in with the coffee during grinding. The stuff is very bitter/sour and when burning smells terrible, kind of like green leaves burning. Occasionally there is a chaff fire in the collection bin and we get to enjoy the aroma.
Of course, in order to use it as a gasifier fuel it would need to be pelletized. I add it to the garden and leave the driving to wood.
Hey Danny, Daren and Derek
I 100% percent agree. We should never human greedy be using ANY people, animal or worm foods to just make heat and power. THIS has what has led to too may of the dead, dusty barren places in our world today.
Even a person in a walk up aparment can countertop compost and window box or roof top grow with thier own generated “rich” “dense” coffee and kitchen wastes. Postage stamp tract housing lot has even much more use for these rich nutrient dense worm foods. My little Town even allows up to 9 yard cooped chicken hens. Real good food converters.
The real problem is how to get the vast majority now heads out of the BOX (TV/video, game system, Ipods, smart phone, etc) and get their hands back out into the real lively soils. They certainly do not need any more help turn key dumbing down thier Lives anymore. Growing/producing ANY of your own foods even if just window box cooking herbs is a beginning of this. Growing your own woods really hammers home respect. ~480 trees harvested for market last Fall. Precisely 1072 trees replanted this Spring. Sigh. Have to overplant to feed the Elk.
Hey guys. I know this topic has gone cold but I feel I’ve gotta stick up for the home team a little. Gasification in the British isles is an uncommon thing, so for most of the public who saw this truck it was an eye opener. The creators have got themselves an open channel to coffee grinds (or was it husks) which is a good thing. I do agree however that just running on wood would be better as a lot of people thought that it could ONLY run on coffee. If they could have shown it being refuelled off roadside wood trash then it would have done a better PR job. The guys overcame quite a few hurdles to get the truck on the road. One of them, very apparent to me but not to the American eye was that they got a petrol pickup. Most pickups are powered by the oil slick in GB as it has better fuel economy. I tried surfing autotrader for petrol pickups and the choice was, um, well, very “Bedford Rascal” in appearance. Also the fact they got a 2.5l engine was nothing short of a miracle. On the shores of middle earth that’s a big engine! Having experience with that pickup I reckon they did well to get it to 65mph without towing the darn thing. As for the mileage, 1600 is a lot, considering Britain’s just under 1000 miles in length!
On a bad side, I’ve emailed them about the running of woodgas on the public highways regarding the legal side of things, still waiting a reply. Guys, stop drinking coffee and email me back. The people who make up the road laws didn’t want to answer me, someones got to!
Good insightful post NeilC.
Local conditions always rule.
On the legal “asking” side of it better to err on the side of “Better to ask forgiveness” than to “Ask for permission”. I know sounds so very “typical redknecked American”. Not really. I’ve gotten this advice from four fellows in different EU contries saying they learned to really regret the before project “asking” (notifing) and having something up and running and well PUBLISHED to get some public ralleying support for the asking forgivness phase that will come.
“Local” to you look for a fellow over in Wales woodgas converted a forward control cab Landrover that he calls MAX for something to maybe go look-see. I do not think he wants Gov’Mint attention. Be discreet. This is a test. You will be graded.
Regards
Steve Unruh
I don’t blame you at all for sticking up for the home team. I am all for using any fuel that will burn clean and a waste product. The only thing that may have raised a few eyebrows was when Martin called the Americans “ wuss” when we had been cruising on the daily basis speeds much higher than his record .
Again , I think Martin is doing a great job. I doubt my gasifier would even start up on coffee waste.
Cheers guys for the feedback. I don’t think I would be brave enough to call a race a “wuss”. At least wood gassing is more common place in America. On the home shores it still seems to be “fossil fuel, fossil thinking” and it’s a hard cycle to break. If I ever manage to build a gasser instead of showing good support then I have my own obstacles to overcome. These would be a first floor maisonette with no outside space! But back on topic. Steve, I like your “ask for forgiveness” approach, however you have never encountered a copper in a bad mood on the roads of England. It’s like walking on Faberge egg shells (hope I spelt that right).Also, insurance companies are always after an excuse not to pay out after an accident. If I put the DOW logo on the side of my van I would not be insured, as I have declared it clean and having the logo would be classed as signwriting, and push the insurance premium up too. So imagine a wood gas setup not being declared…
Anyway, I hoped joining this site would uncover a few gassers in Britain and oh boy has it. A gentleman in wales running a forward control?! I’m gonna have a little google search, but if you have any contact details I would REALLY REALLY appreciate it. I keep looking at my series 2 Landy thinking it is the perfect candidate for wood gas.
On a bad side, I’ve emailed them about the running of woodgas on the public highways regarding the legal side of things, still waiting a reply.
Neil, good news, I asked the question of HMRC fuel duty unit, and got the following reply from Stuart Mulligan about 18 months ago:
snip
I think you will appreciate the final word from our policy section;
‘Thank you for the useful information that you have provided. HMRC will keep this fuel under review but we have no current plans for bringing it into the scope of excise duty. If this changes we will publicise it on our website.’
Best of luck in your endeavours
snip
Basically, like the 2500 litres per year of biodiesel, it would cost more to collect the revenue than it would raise, so woodgassers, like coal fired traction engine enthusiasts should get left in peace. It’s the insurance underwriters that we need to convince
Good Morning NielC
Internet search up “woodgassed LandRover Wales Max” and he shows up posting in four different sites within the last 2 years. One site he states his location. One site will allow direct PM contacts.
NO recent posts on the last 12? months? So . . . advised be discrete now.
My “permission”, “forgivness” was for licencing and taxation only.
Road Cops - only the pretty girl trick will work . . .sometimes . . . IF you do not get a girl Cop. Nothing else much helps. Only makes it worse. Never, ever, try to money bribe a US Cop!! Just say, “Stupid I guess” and try and throw yourself on the mercy of the Court to reduce the penalty and then ask, hat in hands, how to now comply.
Insurance companies nothing works - they are always looking for no payment outs here also. Been burned hard 2-3 times on that.
In restictive areas for licencing, insurance and vehicle emmisions testing I would absolutely ONLY builds a detachable trailer system or a single pivot wheel detachable rear bumper mounted system. Have to be able to seamlessly “dissapear it” for various inspection needs.
From the outside looking in the USofA and even Canada look to be uniform in all of this. Do not be decieved. Huge, huge differences in legality and accepabilty of vehicle woodgasifcation. As great as in the whole EU.
I live in one of the extreme Green nanny State areas uncomfortably close to a world class declared “green” unban center. Highest percentage of registered hybrid electric cars there in the US. They hate and fuel/road tax personal use diesel vehicles as “dirty- polluting”.
Here in my State it is using woodgasification for space heating that will tumble down the wrath of overlapping State agencies on your ass. My State greens always tring to outlaw all forms of wood heating. Follow the money back on that to our 100% imported from out of the region “Clean, Green Natural Gas”. Our state Governor just signed in to law a $160. USD fine for parking in one of the state sponsored “West Coast Electric Highway” electric car parking slots. Setting up for 50 mile recharge stations now Canada to Mexico (2200 miles) dedicated only for plug-in electric vehicles. Yes US Midwesterners this is real, here and now and you get to help pay for it in your FED tax dollars bites.
Ha! Ha! California will have to build more NUKE plants to power this dedicated vehicle rechaging grid or steal even more PNW US and Canadian Hydro.
Now drive to my nearest large urban center (in a different State) and have no licencing, insurance, safety problems as long as “woodgas” wasn’t flaunted. Why the signs are magnetic removable. In this core Urban area best to drop out of any identifiable logging, woodcutting clothing or be Green harassed as a “tree killer”. Schizophrenic. Oregon State has the highest State revenue support from thier forests harvest. But there you go; “Cake eaters”, “Pizza Eaters”, “Pie Eaters” the same the worlds over. No concept of the resources needed to feed them. Just thier wants and needs. The UK seems to have gottem very addicted to North Sea oil. France to Nuke power. Germany to Russian methane. Yes. Yes. I am being overly simplistc and stupid American, “Just do not understand that Green can save us ALL! if you Americans would just stop hogging all of the resources!” Hmm. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India . .
that Monkey Drum is getting a bit 50’s-70’s worn out now don’t you figure?
Regards
Steve Unruh
Dan
