Methane is a better feedstock for FTS becouse of better C/H2 ratio of 1/2, oposite to woodgas with a ratio of usualy max 1/1. Not saying it cant be done, but lam still not convinced enough by the efficiancy to get back to it. This means you waste lots of the energy stored in C.
Woodgas has a wery low critical point so unless the liquid woodgas wuld be kept under -240C it wuld be in a gaseous form under great and dangerous pressure.
Personaly, for a home size liquid fuel produceing system, l wuld rather go in to plastic to liquid systems. Waste plastic is abundand and it can easyaly be made in to quality liquid fuel. I had great resaults with it on a small scale.
A sistem of combined wood gasifier, plastic to fuel crack reactir and a electric generator wuld be a very doable self suffisiant system fir small scale home needs.
Thanks, that answers a couple questions. Will have to research more into the plastic to liquids. I’m just now coming on board with wood gas, I’ve known about it, just never put my mind into it. I have a pretty good knowledge of industrial processes, having been involved in several types of operations, and am hoping some of that knowledge will be useful with utilizing wood gas. They liquify methane, and use it safely as CNG, they also liquify hydrogen as well, I would think that Woodgas would be in the same category regarding vapor pressures and liquid state, as CNG and H2.
Thanks! I have been interested in this field for some time and have been in the industrialized setting for half of my career. Just now tinkering around with things at home. Using the knowledge I gained in various R&D projects over the years, I hope to make use of it on a small scale at home. Just came across Plastic to Liquids, and find that fascinating and relatively easy to accomplish. So I think I may try that first and see if I can produce diesel. Then I will try my hand at wood gas, it is pretty straight forward as well. Perhaps working my way to building a small scale Fischer Tropsch reactor, as I am very familiar with Gas reformation and GTL. It was so fun doing R&D and taking landfill gas and producing very low sulfur synthetic diesel. Wish the company would have kept up the research. Putting all this collective knowledge into practice, someone will hit the right combination.
I have also been interested in Fischer Tropish liquids. The systems I have seen needed 24 hours or more to stabilize and start producing. Then it was 24/7 for as long as possible (months). That would make it hard to do backyard and if tar is problem on intake valves, think about expensive catalysts. I hope someone can solve the problems. It would be a great way to use woodgas for people who would have trouble managing a gasifer on the road. Fred
I worked in a cracking plant and we had to cool our condensates and tar down to transfer them to tanks for shipping.
Scary as hell to be around it, what did not give you cancer was likely high volatile and explosive if it was mixed air.
Sometimes I would have to put these wooden clogs on strapped to my boots and with air line for breathing air I would run inside a cracking pot that had been drained and partly cooled to clean the tar and coke off the sensors and floats.
The hatch cover had highway to hell written on it in chalk and I did not like that job.
We had a lot of fires and accidents before the place went bust.
I am very nervous around the ideas of trying to contain, cool, compress and refine producer gas into anything based on my previous experience in a real mickey mouse waste oil refinery,
GTL is a little different compared to a cracking plant. A refinery is inherently dangerous, as is any process involving hydrocarbons, or methane. In small scale operations, the same hazardous conditions exist, however the “boom” would be much less due to shear size. Be safe, be smart, always practice safe operating procedures. Document every aspect and parameter of the operation, and when making operational changes, make small ones. Any process is only as safe as the ones operating it. I have witnessed some real dumb ass mistakes. I have been involved in death, resulting from complacency. Respect the process, and equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible. Don’t be scared. Be safe.
This must be the mechanism the scientists were studying.
Basically lanzatech is using clostridium autoethanogenum which is a bacteria that lives off of syngas excrete ethanol and acetone, and a few other things. in a process known as syngas fermentation.
Haldor Topsoe identified Dimethy Ether (DME) as a very good engine fuel in the 1940s. It compresses to liquid around 75psig so propane handeling equipment can be used. It is not toxic. It is currently used as an aerosol propellant for many consumer products such as whipped cream, hair spray & etc… There is an International DME Association aboutdme.org/index.asp. Rebecca Boudreaux at Oberon Fuels http://oberonfuels.com/ seems to be the foremost promoter of DME in the world today. Oberon Fuels, sells (relatively) small scale production units. I actually don’t work for Oberon, IDA or anyone in that industry, so this is just talk between guys.
Koen,
I’m keeping a low profile untill I can actually demonstrate something. My schlepper isn’t up and running yet. Maybe you could tell them. Not that I would send you up a rabbit trail or anything.
Rindert
That really sounds a lot like what I was doing with my smokeless charcoal retort except it is probably bottom lit and they probably have a fan, and a better cooling system.
Be safe, be smart, always practice safe operating procedures. Document every aspect and parameter of the operation, and when making operational changes, make small ones. Any process is only as safe as the ones operating it. I have witnessed some real dumb ass mistakes. I have been involved in death, resulting from complacency. Respect the process, and equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible. Don’t be scared. Be safe.