The Russian researchers describe interesting information about tendency to low temperature ash slagging in straw, leading to defluidization in as little as 5 - 10 minutes, and the existence of chlorine compounds in fresh straw, a factor in corrosion. They mention that as little as some days of weathering significantly reduce chlorine, and that various kinds of straw have different characteristics.
Another research paper I found describes a pyrolysis unit made of a slightly inclined rotating cylinder. That sounds like an effective design, self cleaning, amenable to continuous feed. Such a design should be able to deal with minimally processed material. I think a refractory lining would increase efficiency. The draft from flue gas could be used to provide mechanical power to drive the rotation and possibly the auger, as was done on some old coal fired self feeding furnaces. Alternatively thermoelectric power could be derived from peltier effect .
I looked at the hammer mill and told the guy I would take it. I can’t recall the name of it but it was an unusual name, not a common farm machinery brand. It was made in Wisconsin though, and was probably 1960’s era. It’s a standard farm unit with a intake chute, a blower, and a cyclone. I’ll have to set a date on a Saturday, lot’s of stuff will need to be moved to extract it from the barn. He had another unit as well, a big beast with a big auger on it.
So now I’m on the hunt for a motor to run it, not sure how much power I’ll need, but for now it doesn’t matter too much so cheap will be the name of the game! I’ll go bigger if needed later if plans work out. I’ve got my eye locally on an old Wisconsin 39ci AGND engine - only 12.5 HP though.
Look into the Chinese built 186 diesel engines if you don’t mind running on diesel. I put one of those on a little case garden tractor. They really crank out the torque when you need it. It doesn’t burn much fuel but it is a stinky diesel. Otherwise I think I would look for a used lawn mower that you could convert to gasification. There are a ton of 20 hp lawn mowers out there with bad hydrostatic drives.
I thought of diesel, but I want to keep my options open for running the mill on straw if all pans out and keep it easy without having to learn how to run the gas in a diesel. There is a great deal on a HATZ Z108N 32 HP twin not too far away, but still more than double the cost of the Wisconsin and not running. I have a Kohler Courage 20 hp V twin in a spare mower that I could use, but it’s still a good mower. Also I need a horizontal shaft, but the V twin is a vertical like most modern mowers.
Some of the small ones can be run off electric motors, which might be more cost effective if you are generating your own electric. The bigger ones ran off tractors. so probably need the manufacturer and model to figure out the power requirements.
Yeah, I’ll be looking into that when the unit is here and I can get to the MFG’s tag. it is a flat belt drive, not sure if that relates any perspective on power requirements as compared to a PTO drive. I’m thinking 20-30 hp is probably in the ballpark. If that’s the case then running an electric is out as those would likely be 600V 3PH motors, and if I could get a 240 1PH motor that big, it would cost a mint!
I’m hoping to get something workable for 400.00 or less. Another option is a Continental F140 4cyl that’s up for sale. I really like these, although it’s probably overkill, it’s out of a Massey 35 combine. There are also a few old JD LUC stationary power units up for grabs, these all have the bonus of having a clutched PTO bolted on the back of the engines that are hand operated. One even has a belt pulley on the output These engines are those “popping” JD twins that they had back in the 40’s.
Did you see how large the holes in screen under the drum were? Larger holes coarser grind but less power needed.smaller holes finer grind but more power and or slower feed.
Hi strawman.
—Sorta OT:
I have always thought that I ought to own one of those L series engines. I have had 3 horizontal 2 cylinder JD tractors over the years and still think fondly of them (H, A power block, B).
Anyway, I had thought that at least some of the early vertical 2 cyl. JD’s, like the 40, had been made by GM, but now I am not sure.
But— I did a little reading today and it appears that the L engines were originally made by Hercules. Maybe it doesn’t matter to you, but here’s a comment I found on a smokstak forum today:
“You can INSTANTLY tell the difference between the Hercules and JD built engines by the bell housing. The Hercules has a bolt-on bell housing whereas the JD is a one piece casting. ALL of the internal parts are interchangable between the two which make the power units GREAT parts donors.”
I also read something that suggested that they only put out between 9.5 and maybe 12.5 hp.
—Still seems like a fun thing to play with if you can get them in running condition, cheap enough.
If you switch from gas to electric figure half the hp. Electronic motors have more consistent torque. You can go a little less then half with electric but It is usually safe to just go with half. So you are actually looking around 10 hp electric even on 240 vac single phase. Two legs of 120 180 degrees offset that isn’t too hard a motor to find 3 phase 480 it is very common.
Of course the best would be to get an old tractor with a belt pullie. I have a farmall H with one but it needs let me see everything would be the right description.
I did not see the hole size in the screen, I barely had much of a look at all it was buried under a bunch of stuff in a corner of the barn. Guy said there were several screens so hopefully they all show up while we are excavating that thing out of there.
Hi Pete, I love those old engines . I would not hesitate to hook up an old JD twin to the mill even if rated at only 12 hp. These old motors belt out low RPM torque and redline at like 1800 rpm, so they’ll never post good HP numbers. The 140 ci F140 flathead in my dozer is rated at only 30 hp, so how can it run a 6000 lb machine with ease? 250+ ft-lbs of torque at 1100 rpm is how Same thing with that old Wisconsin for sale, big huge motor but only 12 hp, hooked up to a 60" 3 blade brush hog - works great. By contrast, My Simplicity mower is 20 hp running a 46" deck.
It’s pretty rare for me to see any cheap electric motors of any size out my way. That and running a 10 HP 240V motor at $0.25/KWH is likely going to get expensive before too long and I won’t be able to switch out to the gas. A big reason I’m looking to gasify for heat is that it opens the door to other things like supplemental electricity production (we are billed TOU here in Ontario), and road fuel as well. So I’m going to try to keep everything spark ignited ICE.
I like the old tractor idea - but my wife would shoot me, I’ve already got over 31,000 lbs of lawn iron out back
Well tell her you are trading some of that for a tractor that will do actual work and run on energy you produce. But even at those electric rates the electric motor is cheaper to run atleast as long as you are buying gas.
That tractor is 30 or 40 hp by the way at the belt. Depends on if it is really a wd45 or actually a wd. Alot of people did the sticker upgrade on the old wd tractors over the years. Great tractor if he has it there still well worth getting as a “package deal” maybe that would keep you alive a few more days with the wife… Although I personally like the d serries by allis chalmers better. They built one tuff tractor that takes all kinds of abuse. I am currently rebuilding the motor in my d17 the replacement to the wd45. It hasn’t been a part since the 60s and has worked hard most of those years so I can’t complain.
The Allis C we used to mow lawn with used like 6 gallons of gas to get it done. The 22hp JD lawn tractor that replaced it uses about 3. The pto on the JD is decent. Supposedly it gets 16hp on the rear 540 pto. Some of the Simplicity’s have a PTO option that might put out more power then the wisconsin.
Oh, I meant to mention sometimes you can get higher HP, higher voltage dc motors, which means you can run them off a battery bank easier. Some forklift drives motors are DC and fairly beefy, but I don’t know how many hp they go up to.
These engines are those “popping” JD twins that they had back in the 40’s.
