Hi Koen, good luck on the burn with the new unit. The stainless kitchen drain is a good idea. Is the goose neck sleeve stainless here they tend to be plated brass which will melt fast… You should check out Gary’s group over on yahoo groups called “charcoal gasifier”. DOW is a great site but charcoal is the sideshow there it is the main attraction. Lots of content there that is not here…
David Baillie
Hi David,
Will check that for sure
Thx
Koen
Hi Koen, Thanks for the diagram as I can now see what you are making. Yes, this system should work if your fuel is charcoal. My only concern is the diameter of your charcoal gas generator is on the small side. Here is my hunch. If you are running anything larger than a lawn mower engine, you will see the outside of your generator getting red hot in the area about 3 inches above the nozzle. It looks like your generator is stainless steel so there should be no problem with it oxidizing away.
At the end of the nozzle there forms a ball of hot charcoal where the oxidation process is happening. I do not think you have enough charcoal between that red hot ball and the side of your generator to prevent it from getting a dull red hot. But, test it anyway and let us know what happens. We are all still learning.
Until later.
Gary in PA
Hi Gary,
Yes, the diameter is only 5", but sadly not stainless (yet) was just a piece of piping available.
It is exactly that what i want to find out by testing, what can be build with scrap ( or of shelf available ) and what’s going to be the rule off thumbs.
This setup is expected to deliver 1-3Kw or less then 5Hp
Goal is to drive a car dynamo or a small IC engine for irrigating ( lowest rpm possible )
I am very much enjoying this web site and despite my “knowledge” learning every time i look into the topics on this forums.
Keep ya posted about the progress i make.
Grtz
Koen
had to make some changes today, since we don’t have a blow torch here, i had to ad a lightning port to ignite the charcoal.
same time i changed a bit in the “filter” tank, changed the flow and added some oil on the bottom to catch dust.
i made the lightning port with an exchangeable stainless pipe
i added a new drawing to make more understandable…
next trail to fire up, tomorrow
@Gary,
The final end product i want to achieve is a bit as the next picture i ad.
I want to use the heat from the walls (if occur) to heat up some water-vapor and inject that into the air intake
(a bit like generating watergas heating up the charcoal with air mix, cooling down with water vapor , controlling with exhaust)
lets see what it will be first.
http://jamclasses.drbanjo.com/static/dimages/y1pTniGPcgIZoauPEwIsJ10qlYKK3cguBaVtixQBsaiury70DulgczMitnHsWQKzXfzMSHzx5PpHUHWjwZUA.jpeg
http://jamclasses.drbanjo.com/static/dimages/henschel01hy7.jpeg
i did find a better picture, one explain better what i want to achieve, (nozzle and water) but then "Gilmore style)
http://jamclasses.drbanjo.com/static/dimages/Hydrogen_Generator_Gas_V.1%26_2_Wishart_Car_Type_Producer_0.gif
Hi Koen,
reminds me of the antique Australian units I’ve seen pictures of take a look here:
http://www.fluidynenz.250x.com/ausgas/ausgas.html
and : http://www.fluidynenz.250x.com/ww2.htm
These look like well loved machines.
David
Hi David,
Yes thats the same type.
Its amazing what info we can find on the internet these days…
Anyways looking into these drawings gives us some clues towards the solutions we need to find…
I studied a little over night and i think i find that just gasifying charcoal, without water, will give a less powerful gas mixture.
The good news is dough, using CO and H2, they can run IC engines in a high-rich mixture and will start up more easy then mixtures rich in methane.
I will post a study book about Hydrogen in IC engines in the resource section.
Regards
Koen
HI Koen,
if you go check out Gary Gilmore’s group on Yahoo called charcoal gasifier you will find a lot of content on enriching the charcoal gas with everything from plastic to used oil to water all at the scale that we are working at. Also if you are not re-injecting your exhaust into the gasifier that is a good place to start. With your high humidity conditions a good portion of the exhaust you are producing will already be steam so you will get the enrichment you want for free. To boot you will get longer nozzle life as it cools things down. Finally it is self adjusting; as the load on the engine increases it draws harder on the gassifier, heating it up, but it puts out more exhaust density which re-injected cools it down; perfect feedback loop. If you do steam or dripping which most people try you are always taking a best guess at it. Too little, not enough enrichment, to much; too much cooling and it could pass through unreacted causing condensation downline. If you look at my pics that condensation in the filter unit is due solely to airborne humidity and exhaust humidity possibly some charcoal humidity. If that was too much to crack no point in steam…
David
Hi David,
I will go check there for sure.
Today did test with new charcoal, downsized to the size you and Gary recommended.
Flare was after 2 minutes, smokeless, invisible, damn hot…
I did a quick try with my “lawnmower” and did get it started 
:-)) :-)))
No gasoline used, just pulled a few times and it ran for about 20 seconds… Then the temporary carb vibrated of.
Now i go look for adjustable ( old carbs) which i will construct on a kind of Venturi. Many things can be build with old stuff 
And if not find old, then i use chinese clone/copy’s which are very cheap here.
What is your preferred startup position from the air regulator ?
Yep about the exhaust and water mix. I will make a graphic design (just an idea sketch) and post it here to get some comments.
Keep you guy’s posted…
Pic 1, test run, can not see the flare
2 Almost invisible flare
3 and 4 the venturi (made from sink parts
Great feeling.
Made a "flare " run yesterday, with modified blower ( added rpm adjustment) and maintained the temperature between 35 and 40°C
Stopped the run when temperature went up to 55°C
Burned my fingers with a few blisters 
So the outside of the pipe can be dull red as predicted, if the airspeed is to high of course.
The gas is slow burning CO only, no traces from Hydrogen.
I used fresh, bone dry eucalyptus charcoal.
Today emptied the reactor, consumed about 6 liters charcoal in the run yesterday ( aprox 2 kilogrs )
Very little ashes only…
Temperature from charcoal when stopped , was yellow-white colored, very hot i guess (but the wall not red?? surprised me dough)
refilled the reactor today, will do another run tomorrow with time check and with cotton pads for dust check, 1 test before and 1 test after filter system
Preparing the Briggs and Stratton lawnmower to run on the reactor next ( suggestions welcome :-P)( ignition advancing ? Carb start settings )
Need to find a good starting sequence coz not having the possibility to start on gasoline first
Rough calculations; need to produce +/- 6 cbm gas per hour for the 160cc engines at 2800 rpm, but i want the BS run on less then 2000 rpm.
so power range = between 2 and 3 kWh
Gonna make a primarily design for water injection and for later exhaust recuperation.
Oh, and not to forget… the best news for us, the charcoal fans…
MIT is interested in my plans with charcoal and gasifying…
Now going to sleep, dead tired, but happy…
@David,
I guess that the moister you experiencing is from the charcoal itself. Maybe you should test a run with same settings but “cook” your charcoal first in a drum above a open fire ? and the check what happens ?
The lower power level which you obtain, gives me the same impression which i have with my gas ( flame speed low-low-low and no backfire in the piping at very low airspeed , simple test i perform here )
I did try to get on the yahoo forum , but not had luck with my internet connection here yet.
i keep you all posted about the progress.
Hi guy’s
Its alive…
after a few mods to ensure constant gas quality, its up and running.
The BS engine has NO Carburator or other energy supply so ever.
Piping and adjustments with PVC ball valves.
It worked very good actualy.
Tomorow, i 'll try to ad the filter again
After that, adjust with a new Honda 200 GX engine / piston pump for the road show
I might use the lawnmower as wood chipper for the charcoal ( chipping the branches before charcoaling them in the retort )
Thanks for the good idea Gary and for the support of the others
Keep ya posted about the progress
Congrats on the run koen. When you switch over to the Honda set up your exhaust injection. Under load that small red spot will quadruple in size. My small test unit did the same and after 10-12 hours the metal around the intake delaminated and got brittle. Unit looks good keep it up…
David Baillie
David, the small red spot is the ignition port which i left open during the test run.
I am looking now for the tubing to connect exhaust, water injection and so on.
temperature stayed within limits dough.
Design is horizontal lightning port with vertical air nozzle
here are 2 more links to the next video’s
part 2
part 3
Koen, This is great!!! Now that you have the unit working, you can fine tune it. Just looked at your videos and will make this observation. The first valve you moved (the one closest to the engine) will serve as the throttle. Close it down to slow down the engine and open it up to speed up the engine. The other valve, where you used your hand to choke the system has the valve nearly wide open. Instead of using your hand, you should have closed the valve a little until the engine speed picked up. This is your air/gas mixing valve and once set, does not need a lot of adjustment. Open or close the throttle but the air/gas mix valve does not need reset unless the quality of the generator gas changes.
I adjust the air/gas mixture valve by closing it until the engine RPM drops (too rich) and then opening it up (letting more air in) until the RPMs drop. The correct setting is between those two settings.
Now, you can keep that big grin on your face for another week, then you will have to reduce it to just a smile for the next month.
Glad you are taking this on the road to share. There is no money to be made in this endeavor, but there sure is a lot of satisfaction you can gain from helping other break the addiction to oil.
Gary in PA
Yes Gary, the grin is there. but you should see the faces of the locals…
I use the valves as they are easily available and commonly used. same as all parts. i want to trigger them to think “that easy? i can do better”
By taking the carburator entirely of the engine, the doubts of “is this a trick” is gone and the surprise on their faces more big.
Now playing around with little improvements, making it ready on a movable rack to go on the road show here
Update on the density of the charcoal:
i measured 200 Grs per liter , particle sized 2 - 14 mm, charcoal from eucalyptus
Preparing test to use charcoaled rice-husk.
Preparing the Honda GX200 for the KOGI 2, on the background a 3piston HP pump and also a Genset with honda Clone
Also arrived a present from a friend, to rebuild for the roadshow, Honda clone with centrifugal pump
Today i am going to buy fittings and valves to use on the honda and clones ( all have same sizing )
