Electrostatic gas filtration

l wanted to share someting interasting with thw wood part of the forum eaven thugh l am not in to raw wood gasification (anymore(for now :wink:))
I was wisiting a friend a few years ago who is also in wood gasing. He had a GEK gasifier runing an old small Fiat engine. He was planing to power pumps for his potato and corn fieald watering sistem but after that he never mentioned wood gas much. Then i found his new video on youtube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvQ0Z4fOcU
He called me one day and l asked him what kind of gasifier setup he uses. He smiled and sayd a television runs his filter now.
He uses an updraft gasifier with an electrostatic filter, powered by a TV transformer. He has fantastic resaults! Does anyone have a similar settup?

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Hi Kristijan , thanks for showing us that link to your friends system .
I just had a quick look at that video and although we see nothing on his electrostatic filter or how he has it running , it sure brings out a nice clean blue flame when switched on .
I hope he will share his set up with us all one day or at the very least give us a inside into how he makes it all work .
Dave

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Hi Dave,

Here some basic explaining:

Its do-able but cumbersome (been there) to do it with tarry gas, better and more easy to pay attention on your feedstock / gasifier construct…

You can use the setup as in the movie, with one of those shockers i use for ignition.

It might be a good idea dough to use such thing in a smokeless charcoaling unit :wink:

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some more from the original :slight_smile:

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Thank you Koen , I do remember a discussion on electrostatic filtration some time ago now .

Just something to put in the back of my mind for time to come I guess , as you never know when your going to need it .

Dave

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Tar and water are the reason he put this kind of filter on. He says he has dry and clean gas and can use raw wood with no problem. I think this is the future of stationary power for wood gas

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Hey KristijanL
I enjoy much your own personal works, knowledge and astute observations.
On the electrostatic filtration systems I’ve seen for houses, restaurants, labs and production facilities the energy requirement would be a quite a drag on a small system. Take a bite out of Net power on 1kw to 5kw systems.
The restaurant ones in particular were an extreme PITA to clean the greases, oils and cigarette smokers tars from. Took multiple chemical and detergent baths soaking and washing.

I’d have to see some long term woodgas system usage, with feed back from someone I trust before I would say a one-for-all solution.
Will this be you?

Best regards
Steve Unruh

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When I got back into wood gas I read, on another list, that these worked amazingly well. Well, that was for a short period until it shorted out and the system was left without it’s filter. But who knows, it was just chatter on a list. Maybe the time has come.

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Thanks for all the kind words sir it sure is nice to be in a group of people that apriciate your work :slight_smile:

My friend uses two electrostatic “cells”, 60W each so that is 120w for a system that produces about 35KW worth of gas so if it works l think the power loss isnt so terible.
As for the tars buildup in the filter water is your friend as it condenses along with the tar, flushing it out of the walls befote it hets the time to stick. The only problem he pointed out was a large abount of this tar/water condensate that he has to find a usefull way to use. One option is to separate the heavy tar and put it back in the gasifier.

I am planing to visit him someday soon and if he aproves l will take a few more photos and notes. Its a long way to drive so l better start makeing some charcoal for my Seat :wink:

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I finally freed up the time to be able to watch this.

Very nice woodgas numbers he is posting up achieving. Good CH4’s and H2’s levels. Good low CO2 indication good conversion efficiency.

Ha! Ha! You know KristjanL. that chargassing cannot get these numbers. (I can say this in General Discussion. In a Charcoal gas section it would not be taken as a tongue-in-cheek joke as offered up . . .but taken as a criticism.)
You of course are charcoal gassing for the lighter on-board system weight loading on your Seat.

Have you ever seen the info on the WWII era Swiss made charcoal powered airplane?
Here on the DOW somewhere put up by Chris Seymour. WWII Gasifiers section?

Regards
Steve Unruh

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Well that methane wuld be a bit tricky to get :wink: but l think with steam injection the H2 might be higher with charcoal.

l sure will tri to find that!

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some verified test results from one of mine, charcoal as fuel, but with oxy, water and Co2 …

CO: 44.1%
H2: 31.9%
CH4: 0.8%
CO2:1.9%
N2: 21.3%

i have my tongue-in-cheek face :grin:

Believe me, so much more is possible…

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Good info results guys.
When possible also request a measurement and % reading on remaining O2 also. Significant remaining, say above 3% tells you there is more in system CO2 conversion possible. O2 below ~3% and you are practical/available thermal doing as best as you can. Trying to do more is an effort in diminishing returns.
Regards
Steve Unruh

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Steve you actualy gave me an idea with that methane in the gas. l think i found a way to boost methane and hydrogen in the chargas but lets wait for a rainy day to make some tests.

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