I couldn’t find a specific thread for this so here goes. Let’s get this information into one place.
I haven’t had time to be active here on account of enrolling in trade school to become a metal artisan, the education involves basic and advanced techniques of casting, forging, welding and machining which does tie into my gasifier hobby as I’ll be able to fabricate much better systems in the future instead of just scrap metal prototypes.
Onto the question of the day: What sort of fuel economy do you average while driving on wood or charcoal? I’m interested in seeing the difference between various systems and vehicles. Also interested in the consumption of other gasification fuels such agricultural waste, mixed in plastic etc.
Kilometers Per Kilogram and Miles Per Pound are welcome - though I appreciate it if you take the time to convert to both metric and imperial in order to save everyone’s time.
Provide some basic info such as your vehicle model, year, engine displacement and transmission type.
I’ve no data of my own to contribute as I’ve only dealt with stationary prototypes. I’ll be making a gasifier for one of my cars in due time. Any data here will help me and many others in that regard.
Honestly, the economy is similar. It really depends on how well built the system is and it’s resistance, and the efficiency of the vehicle itself.
I’ll just list the one I can absolutely confirm, my 1986 Mazda B2000 1998cc engine. I got 2 Miles per Pound(3.2km/.4kg) of charcoal in my updraft flute nozzle gasifier. My fuel density at the time was 9lbs per 5 gallons or 1.8Lbs per gallon.
I think this would translate well to my truck getting a Mile per Pound of raw wood, when you consider how much more dense wood is to charcoal. Only a guess, I haven’t put in a raw wood system since the Mazda is out of commission.
Hello Antero. My 92 Volvo 740 is a 2.3l manual transmission. Raw wood gasifier. 2kg/10 km or 0.7 ppm.
However, as you probably already know, short distances affect consumption drasticly. Individual driving habits is a very important factor if you are to compare numbers. Add 50% to my numbers above to represent my daily commute of 15 min one way.
Actually I already read the report years ago, but thank you regardless Wayne. Maybe a re-read wouldn’t hurt!
Driving habits make a big difference indeed. I prefer to take the backroads so I can go at my own pace and catch the scenery without disrupting the morning commuters. Practically no police on backroads either. Saves me fuel too despite the longer route as I drive in high gear with low RPM and the lower speed gives much less wind resistance. I suppose a gasifier vehicle would fit my cruising type driving style perfectly.
I faintly remember an old video of yours where you mentioned you do 1 & 1/4th mile per pound of wood, correct me if I’m wrong. Was that with a loaded bed or trailer, or was that highway consumption? Regardless, pretty good for a heavy truck and associated aerodynamics of a brick
Since we’re on the topic of fuel, have you or others here tried using stumps or fatwood in the gasifier? Here in Finland it’s not an uncommon sight to see stumps and roots pulled out from and piled on the side of a field, and those are often full of resins that burn like oil. The caloric value can be immense and I figured I could likely buy them for cheap. The downside would likely be the high ash content and of course the high temperature for breaking down the heavy resins.
Hello AnteroS.
I have tried using confer wood stump material. Yes. Very resinous indeed. You can in the gasifier design/operate for this.
For an individual however, the fuel prep is just too energy/time consuming.
To cut chunk it up - MUST BE Sawn Cut - you have to be sure all of the dirt and stones are removed first. Pick, pick until you are blue in the face and a stone will ruin your saws cutter teeth.
So high-pressure water blast then thourally having to rotate and roll around the stump.
More energy IN having to expend. Then dry the now soak-wetted . . . more time, handling energy.
Honestly the best use once they are big equipment ripped out of the ground is as interlocked stacked privacy borders.
Here some have them again big-equipment using much fuel diesel tub grinding them up for respread out soils cover and muds abatement.
To learn all of this 1st hand take one stump and convert it to gasifier wood chunks.
You will after that go for the limbs, branches and stem-wood splits.
It should also be noted, there are numerous “ecomodder” or “hypermileage” mods noted in forums dedicated to such, the vast majority of which would improve miles/cord just as well as they would miles/gallon. For example, an aluminum or Coroplast belly pan reportedly helps quite a bit
