# Mercedes-Benz E230 vol. 2, charcoal powered

**URL:** http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/mercedes-benz-e230-vol-2-charcoal-powered/3604
**Category:** Charcoal Gasification
**Created:** [December 2, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/mercedes-benz-e230-vol-2-charcoal-powered/3604 "2017-12-02T14:13:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 24

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### Author: ![Til](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v2/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@Til](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/Til)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 8:04am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/mercedes-benz-e230-vol-2-charcoal-powered/3604/24 "2017-12-06T08:04:04Z")

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Good Morning (depends on which part of the world you are 😉 ),

Koen, thanks for your long reply.

> [@k\_vanlooken](#):
>
> Welcome to DOW.
> 
> 1: The video posted is actually a raw wood gasifier, mistakenly described as charcoal gasifier.

I’m sorry, but I think you are mistaken here and I would join Kristijan’s statement. And it matches very well with the cross section of the Mako in the swedish gengas book.

> [@KristijanL](#):
>
> Koen, l am preety sure the gasifier from the video is a Swedish Mako downdraft charcoal gasifier. Look again. No cooler condense tank, only 3 big nozzles, no restriction, cooler wery small…

> [@k\_vanlooken](#):
>
> My opinion: a: creating perfect fuel is less cumbersome then trying to build your gasifier around less quality fuel. Hence i make high quality charcoal for starters.

Yes, this is for sure a better approach. If you can guarantee good quality char, I’m absolutely with you.  
But if you are traveling around and have to rely on different fuel sources, this may be a problem. This is why downdraft charcoal gasifiers were almost exclusively used in Sweden in WW2, except from the Källe. And today, just think of a bag of BBQ charcoal, which is not engine grade.

> [@k\_vanlooken](#):
>
> The heat accumulation occuring in my charcoal gasifiers does not comes thru the charcoal but from the heattransfer from the metals. The balance between descending charcoal and rising gas has been established in the construction sizing. The less waterdrip i use, the less i need to worry about wet gas heat rising.
> 
> using a insulation ring/flange between reactor body and hopper, will block heattransfer thru the metal.

This is very interesting and for sure practical experience that I’m missing so far.

> [@KristijanL](#):
>
> In this spirit, two designs come to mind. My Seat gasifier milti nozzle updraft desigh, or a crossdraft.
> 
> Sincce the updraft showed problematic at insulated hoppers, l will, for a start, go with a crossdraft.
> 
> And, l second what you sayd on fuel quality. Thats why l was thinking to either make the nozzle or grid adjustible. That way l can set the lengh of nozzle-grid, takeing the gas out at the edge of reduction zone. This shuld burn most tars shuld they be present.

Kristijan, I really like your Seat gasifier. It should for sure be possible to upscale it for the MB.  
If you go for a cross-draft, I for myself find the Gohin-Poulenc very inspiring, both gasifier and the filter design. Quite compact and simple. It was very popular in France.  
For sure you know this thread: [Gohin Poulenc](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/gohin-poulenc/642)  
And there is a french web-site with more information and pictures: [Admission d'air par tuyères](http://gazogenes.free.fr/tuyere_refroidissement_eau.html)  
There is an interesting nozzle design with two different cross section for the air entry, making it kind of adjustable to the suction load of the engine. In a book from Switzerland I found a drawing of a moveable nozzle. I don’t have it here, but will look it up later at home.

The only disadvantage that I have read often about cross-drafts are slag formation and fairly high pressure drop.

Hope that helped a bit and I dindn’t wrote just things you all already know.

And Kristijan, hope your eye will be soon OK again! Be careful with eyes and ears, they don’t grow again once lost! I was also a bit careless in the past with that, but I can feel the first problems with my ears now. Not too bad, but enough to be an alarming sign for me.

Regards,  
Tilman

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