I am building a new silo for my LaRotor that is big enough to get me down the road further. I had a monorator in an earlier build and liked the idea.
Seeings I am building my new silo out of a 55 gal drum I went to the WK build for an ideas. In the WK you use a “ring” off from a barrel. I have had a hard time coming up with barrels with rings so I was trying to figure how to conserve on them. I ended up using a 20 inch bicycle wheel. Cut the spokes out and spot welded the holes shut. I had to cut about 1/2 inch out of the wheel to get it to fit. It welded to the drum fine and was easy to get the vertical portion of the gutter to lay flat against while welding.
Even though I am not able to start a WK build I hope this will help others.
I see on All Power Labs they are taking the water from the Monorator and heating in a tube wrapped around parts of the Gasifier. Then finally around the Cyclone and then feeding it into the hot char. Apparently once it is heated in this way it does not sap heat from the Gasifier. The end result is to gain significant amounts more Hydrogen, has anyone tried something like this?
Sure Gary Hoffman charcoal gasifier guys do this a lot. Your WWII countryman especially did this.
It is All about energy balances and temerature contols man.
Charcoal gasifier has exessive heats and heat energy that can be moderated and spent handily vaporized water for steam injection. IF you have enough surplus heat energy you are then making freed up H2 AND OXYGEN. This freed up oxygen can than be capured by a char carbon and make even More CO fuel gas %. This higher % of CO content now, plus the now made H2 hydrogen makes a more powerful potential composite motor fuel gas blend. Some say higher BTU content. Other say higher octane. It is just not that straght forward correct in a piston IC engine. What acrually happens is the better blended fuel gasses gives a longer duration pressure push to the piston so more angles of degrees of crankshaft turning can be convert from heat and pressure energy to rotating shaft mechanical power energy. Standard configuration IC piston engine produce closer to gasoline/propane/methane spec power with the steam vapor injection on a charcoal gasifier. Other hydrogen containing fuels ( waste motor oils) could do this too but will not give the temerature cooling moderation a charcoal gasifier really needs.
This all in strictly in a charcoal gasifier. The wood volatiles are all gone out of the energy’temperature balance now on a separate pre-process step.
Woodgasifier has a different energy/temperature/heats balance story. Barely balances and pushed into negative balances easily. Excessive fuel and air moistures pushes it easily into negative heat balance which means not hot enough core temps which means then tars and unconverted no engine power CO2 then pass through to the filter train and the engine. Clogged filters/coolers and engines.
Best benefit on a raw wood gasifier is to sacrifice a little system heat and condense out and remove the majorty of the excessive moistures BEFORE Heat robbing out of the char bed.
A raw wood fueled gasifer always makes 1 to 4% or more CH4 producer methane as a componet fuel gas. This bio-mass methane has more potential engine energy than all of the higher % of CO And if a 4%+ CH4 to 18% H2 balance even MORE engine potential energy than the much vaunted hydrogen gas. Standard configration IC pistion engines love this woodgas H2 + CH4 + CO fuel gasses blend. Right engine set up and this will be within 10% of the power as the spec grade Dino fuels rating shaft power.
Takes a very specially configured IC piston engine to even run on high percentage CO fuel gas.
Takes much differently specially configured IC piston engine to even run on high percentage hydrogen fuel gas.
Whats this got to do with your woodgasifer gasifier condensate heating to into char bed injecting??
Only will work out energywise IF you have a lot of gasifier core heat bleeding out affordable/available to spend in the vaporization mondo heat greedy condensate liquid to vapor phase change. Highly insulated woodgasifer systems like I have personally used this “waste” “bleeding out” heat is already trapped inside working. Mondo core temps build-ups then requiring expensive, superior materials to then not to melt down, burn through fail.
Or . . . you can use common materials and let the heat bleed out and cycled that heat bleeding out back into the sytem. Like ALL the air and fuel pre-heating systems do. This heat energy then s-t-r-e-a-t-c-h-e-d out (actually being absorbed and dilutted) by more “cold” incoming air and fuels to below materials temperature failures. Done this way it is more about a temperture moredtion control then about making hydrogen gas from water.
And since the energy IS going back into a closed system loop the energy system balances then.
This all comes togather and makes sence once you’ve gone through enough fuel wood and heat trashed a few weld ups. Paint scorching, and past that to glowing metals are BAD signs to watch for! Never want to see this! TOO DAMN HOT!
Tarred up filter trains and engine means NOT HOT ENOUGH. Where did you either fail to make enough heat or waste let it bleed away?
Easiest way to cool? - put in more raw fuel wood - cooling will happen quickly.
Easiest way to heat things up - first fuel gas draw it harder. Keep it hot? Get out the condensates, and KEEP them out, not allowed back in as heat cheaply as possible.
Sorry Gary, I’m not sure what APL is doing now days. When Jim first came on line he posted some You Tubes with an extremely simplified version of all the types of gasifiers; down draft, up draft, cross draft. One was so simple, all he had done was stuff one end of a piece of tubing with lit cigarets. Then they had their fist weekend work shop where they installed a Fema (?) in an old Chev truck. After that they came up with the design with the stainless steel tubes preheating the air. I liked that idea so I made one of my own version like it. After that APL started into auger feeds and all sorts of instruments including a self made computer etc. I lost interest in their projects.
As for water-- my theory is GET RID OF ALL YOU CAN WHEN EVER YOU CAN. Use dry wood of course. Then I got a lot of water from a moderator I use in another build. It took a lot of energy to change the water to steam. But the converse of that is the steam gave up just about as much heat going back to water so I did gain some temperature in my upper silo (hopper) when the steam condensed. If that is true, then I feel it is best to get rid of that condensed water right away. It’s kind of like gambling to me. I put down some money and I loose, and then as I play I gain back what I lost. Now I’m about even so I quit. To get the steam to break down into H2 and O2 would be like me “doubling down” on my bets. I MAY win but I could loose big if it doesn’t break down.
The gasifier build I am working on uses engine exhaust heat to heat the wood to the point it should become char before getting to the air nozzle area. At least that is what I am led to believe from APL and that reintroducing super heated steam into the reduction zone will give a better result.(with these other add ons to pre dry and char the fuel) I will be trying it with and without the steam, not sure the best way to test it though as the generator I will be using is limited by the alternator.
Still building it ATM been held up with moving house this week. I am hoping to be able to get back onto it again by the weekend. The actual gasifier is completed and most of the welding of the other parts. Which leaves time consuming fiddly bits such as augers that it requires.
Steve if your referring to Kurt Johannsen he is a relative of mine. He has passed away now but I am trying to get his plans through the family.