6" is the minimum size to use here, or you might go home sad some days.
(50cm pickerel / walleye)
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More or less difficult or impossible .
crank chain in sealed vessel to sealed vessel , move charcoal from sealed vessel to sealed vessel .
Image Credits
Creator: ZU_09
Credit: Getty Images
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I found a calculator out there for ‘handrail radius’. Should take some of the guesse work out of it. https://www.easycalculation.com/physics/classical-physics/helix.php
https://handymath.com/cgi-bin/rad2.cgi?submit=Entry
Else just google: handrail radius calculator
Rindert
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At first glance it does seem that the auger would provide an air entrance. But seeing it operate seems to indicate otherwise.
I think the auger is fairly close fitting in the housing, and of a fairly short pitch. Also the auger is of a generous length. I think between the packing of charcoal in the auger and the length around the flights it is effectively blocking air entry.
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This is the stuff we are looking for. You could integrate directly into your gasifier and it would essentially be just like a wood gasifire. Raw wood fuel in;;; product gas comes out. You did nothing but put easy to process chunks into the machine. You have much greater heat reclaim potential with this as you can reclaim the fuel process heat, Where as with wood processing you lose this energy. This system as a whole I would say comes out on top for efficiency when considering the full picture.
Here is your auger. just search ebay and amazon for these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015Z3PCE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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I have one of those earth augers and they are tiny i think only around 2 inch dia .
Best place for augers are AG supplies as they are most commonly used for grain , so there are always lots of bent, broken used ones thrown out on farms
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I was thinking of a system making charcoal while fueling an engine with wood gas but then you need to open a standard steel fire door and pull out a barrel of charcoal from a space the wood gas is being passed through . Based on some 1800 century design using an auger some 20 feet long .
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after ‘world war two’ there were charcoal retorts made out of sheet metal , there was a silo style and a shed style . I do not know how many firing these could survive . the account of firing the shed style was very frightening .
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flaming glowing smoking accordion , That you spent all your money on , that was going to be your livelihood
I was not sure of what I was thinking , but I found the thing , what were they thinking ?
.
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What if, you were too build a dedicated charcoal unit to supply heat for the retort? direct the flare to heat the vessel and vent the pylrosis gases back to this burner as well.
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Sounds very much like a “tin can gas log”. A small fire is built under the retort to get the process started. Where the retort gasses are used to actually cook the wood. Also smaller barrel can be placed upside down in a larger one and much the same thing be done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-R-8OPRJz4 There are very many ways to actually do it.
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Yup my idea here is not use any raw materials for the process. Use your processed fuel instead for cleaner and more controlled process.
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Systems have been designed around 3 different retorts, using the retort gases in turn to prime the next batch. For batch load systems this seems the most efficient. The next stage up would be like the old french design posted a while ago, continuous flow through, bottom discharge. But that had an airlock at the top, etc, fairly complex. That makes it not very different in principle from the Weiss system, but I think the Weiss approach is more efficient.
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I found a text saying using an auger in a process that produces immovable solids ( clumps of tar and wood chips ) end in the self destruction of the machine . The people I am quoting where building multi stage gasifier that looked like continuous commercial oven That they never finished building .
I messaged designs for gasifiers that were used commercially from a book published 1912 .
I posted designs for single engine .
The author many years ago made large quanties of gas of high illuminating quality and great power by distilling dried sea weeds , commonly known as tangle , hundreds of tons of this weed are cast up by the sea in autumn and early winter .
I have not looked at his larger designs for cities .
I want to submit another design "rotary kiln three stage gasifier "
It was built , it did no work , it was run and tested monitored and data collected .
Maybe you could build one from a junkyard full of tumble dryers .
The key is recirculating heat , at one point you want hot dry air circulating , at next point you want to limit air but I end up using a blower to push air in .
I have a gasifier . I may cut open water heater to fire dry wood chips . I need to get fuel auger and grate shaker working and I intend on adding flare outside of building
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I know this is an old thread. but how is the project coming?
There are a couple of AG supply places that make custom ones if you haven’t found one. They can get the flights right. I wouldn’t worry about air leaks as long as they are fairly small, the oxygen will burn up fairly fast. The cheapest place actually only had a phone number to call about 10 years ago. I -think- they are also used in some pig feeder operations to distribute grain. (there is also a paddle system but less dust with an auger).
I am actually wondering if the material flowed down whether it would reduce the chances of binding. There was a gasifier that used an auger as part of their drying/heating air-lock system.
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Hey, just back in touch with the civilized world of running water and endless power for a short while.
The report is, Joep very generously sent me an auger section from the Netherlands. Many thanks for that. But I have made no progress, been very busy farming, setting up a small herd of cattle, fencing and now haying. It’s been a very difficult year climate wise, very late cold spring, and then frequent rain. Just recently the weather is good for hay, will be a one cut season for most. Good I have set low goals for starting.
Come fall I intend to get back on the project.
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Well, today in the news I heard a company won some price with a charcoal burner. And they got my interest right away.
https://www.movi.nl/nl/charcoal-furnaces
They call it the MC Furnace. As soon as I got home started reading. The numbers of turning wood into charcoal is 1:4 in kg/lbs. And they are happy with that because normaly it is 1:7??? I am getting a little depressed by those numbers. Are they correct?
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Good Morning JeopK,
Yes I believe their number are correct. And actually quite an achievement doing this with just minimal process starting heat energy.
Look up the many listings for the chemical carbon percentages in woods. ~22% to 28%. (Low because these do not factor in bark with lower carbons and higher minerals.)
Then look up the lab measures mineral “ash” by percentage weight. 1% to 11% if bark is included.
So take mid-range numbers of 25% + 5% as maximums yield theoretically possible.
They are within 75% of by weight conversion.
Note that they say to use continues 24/7 to get this. Cooling. Then reheating would be a conversion efficiency killer.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Thanks Mr Steve. Ok then, to keep up my lifestyle we will be needing a lot of wood then…
They want to produce 24-7 and are working batch wise.
I am still charmed by the Hookway retorts. Got it in my head, now in real and put them on top of each other then.
To be continued.
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Once I get a scale Ill get weight figures on my process. However by volume I have achieved 60% net of the gross volume. Just like in a typical gasifier, the kiln also requires very low moisture content. Wet fuel you spend more fuel trying to burn out that moisture so you produce less charcoal versus what you spend in heat to produce it. Even though I have to produce more fuel, I spend less time in labor and equipment energy input processing that fuel. I am no longer processing tiny little pieces the kiln does that for me.
Then the water drip!! Dont forget this, that new jet system is now cracking 2 liters per hour. That is an estimated 45,000 BTU just from the water.
Also charcoal by weight has a bit more BTU energy than the gross wood weight. Charcoal is 9600 btu pr lb and wood will vary and is dependent on MC. Higher moisture content takes your BTU’s away. So factor that percentage back in.
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