Charcoal Water Drip Systems

See there you go again making everything over complicated. lol. I think we all share this in this space. It the very reason many of us are here.

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That drip system is a good design Matt. Question how do you shut off the air to shut the gasifer down.
I was thinking a gate valve?
Or is it not needed.
Bob

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Yeah I dont do anything other than shut the mixer valve off. The unit seem to shut down just fine without a shut so I quit using that practice. As long as the unit is sealed everything it static inside so air can not really get in. At shut down its just the opposite the charcoal will degas for a bit and then just shut down. No smoke issues either.

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I was wondering, what if you created a setup were the gasified had another sleeve around the outside that the water would go in, and had aluminum pipes from the gasifier run through the water to both cool the gas, and heat up the water into mist, that you then run to the gasifier intake?? It seems to me that the water system could be partly used instead of throttle, and being able to utilize as much heat as possible would be more beneficial?!?

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Water jackets have been used like that before, steam running into the air intake would definitely crack into hydrogen easier than drips.
I’d say go for it if your output gas is coming out hot.
But I wouldn’t have the gas touching aluminum, it can be corrosive.

Yeah my gas out is not hot enough. You surely would get better process but at the expense of higher complexity. The system Im using now is working quite well. it is consistent and is flashing the water to steam. Some of the water stay in mist form and this is desired. But as the eddy currents force the water mist to the walls of the jet it is instantly flashed. So for me I dont see any reason to make this any more complicated. `

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I see, I was originally thinking it would be easier to use a water cooled engine, so you could just have a small amount of steam go to the gasifier when the engine gets to temp, but than I noticed you were running a air cooled engine. So it won’t work on that. :yum::yum:

Maybe if the generator could be connected to a water cooled motorcycle engine that would work?? But that’s even more work!!

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Just use the exhaust.

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Oh, what are the byproducts of burning charcoal gas?? Could you bubble that through the water too??

Honestly, I’m only starting to get into charcoal gasification, so I apologize if I’m not making any sense here!! Just curious.

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Bubblers take too much energy and you will end up with a loss in power. Just build an attachment to the exhaust. tube inside a tube. drip water on the center tube it will flash instantly. Then feed the steam to the nozzle.

But again this is more complex and I don’t think the benefits will justify that added complexity. With my version If I want to evap more water all I have to do is make my jet longer.

The idea here is to use the reaction heat for this to keep the nozzle from melting. The steam is not doing anything. it is the flashing of the water to steam that is absorbing the heat. The later water shift is exothermic as well, but this is not all that is cooling the nozzle. The water flashing is more localized to the nozzle cooling. The steam water shift is happening well after the nozzle into the reaction zone.

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Endothermic ?

Oh, I need more characters.

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Water shift is moderately exothermic but tar cracking is endothermic.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/water-gas-shift-reaction

http://beta.chem.uw.edu.pl/people/AMyslinski/nowy/zarzadzanie/06ME_mat.pdf

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Per page 49 #83; over all it is endothermic. A bit like heats of combustion in that there is positive and negative reactions at work.

Minor detail, just fun talk. What matters is a working and reliable producer.

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Yeah you are right, I had to look them up and I actually meant endothermic. The process absorbs heat. Both in the evaporation of the water and the oxygen shift out to carbon.

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hi Matt
I love the simple solutions you offer us. I don’t have your genius, I always complicate things too much.
Do you create a restriction with the air intake holes to turn drops of water into drizzle?
we get closer to the carburetor proposed by Max … but in a simpler way

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No you dont need to restrict the air but you need enough velocity to grab the water is all.

The engine you are trying to run will determine your hole size. If set up for a larger engine and you try to run a smaller engine it may not pull enough volume to create the velocity needed to grab the water drips. Then if the holes are smaller and you run a larger engine, it maybe too restrictive. The jet nozzle system I am using four 3/8 (9mm) holes, this is actually more area than the end of the pipe opening so I am not restricting the air at all.

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Page on water gas

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