I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t see the harm in leaving the nails in the charcoal and cleaning them out after the gasifier turns the charcoal to ash. The magnet method would be much more effective at that point I would think. I save my ash as well. I am learning to make lye water to make soap and sodium/potassium hydroxide for my chemical hydrogen generator (torch). LOL I rarely let any resource go to waste. Just my $.02
Hey tom, you can use softwood charcoal you just use twice as Much volume wise as hardwood. I am using softwood charcoal in my tractor. Processing it you will find more waste and dust then hardwood as well. For nails I remove all I can catch. They seem to always find a way to weld together and obstruct my air inlet with slag…
David Baillie
Tom, you could use a cone kiln with storage. The third article down on this page: http://www.backyardbiochar.net/
The charcoal pieces fall through the grate and into the barrel, and then you install the lid to keep everything from burning to ash.
Thank you for the comments. Next burn I will have an empty drum ready. I’m sure I will have more char coal than I have drums to store it in.
Hey Dan, it looks to me like your charcoal is too coarse i.e. the pieces are too big. The charcoal guys that run small engines have processors that grind it up and then screen it thru a couple of screens and use everything between 1/4" and 3/4". That gives a whole lot more surface area to react and make richer gas and with a hotter burn it might also convert some of that water vapor to H2. Bruce Southerland in the charcoal yahoo group made up this sawblade roller to grind up his charcoal.
Judging by what appears to have been a puff coming out of your observation/lighting port when you went throttle up, I’m going to put some window screen or something over mine, and establish the habit of using a mirror to check nozzle “color”.
Eyeballs don’t grow back.
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Don, That charcoal grinder looks pretty sweet and easy to make. I’ll try smaller pieces. sounds logical. Alex, Yeah I wear safety glasses when ever I am doing any project. Eyes are a blessing for sure. Peace!
I burned a pile of wood from the barn last night and got a 55 gal. drum full. Will have to wait for it to cool but I don’t think the quality is very good. Not sure I will try this again. The coals were so hot I could only get close enough for about 4 shovels and then my arm and face were starting to burn. Took a lot of shovels to fill a 55 gal drum. By the weight of the shovel, I could tell I got down and picked up some ash–not good, but I was working fast.TomC
I’m sure it will not be all usable, Tom, but after you screen the ashes out and pick out the brown brands you will still have a lot of good charcoal.
Well TomC you now have the HEAT Power of radiant red hot glowing wood char impressed into you down the the cell level.
Now make those brain cells always, always factor this in about what that glowing HOT radiant HEAT energy is doing to the guts of your gasifier hearth. Charcoal or raw wood fueled.
Often for materials survivability the answer is not thinking insulation but thinking radiant shielding.
And stand off gapped radiant shielding at that.
You now should be able “to feel” why some construct as they do.
Good expereinced/programing you just submitted yourself to.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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I have no project right now to us charcoal but it is on my “bucket list”. So I decided 100 gal. of char was enough to have sitting around until the time I figure out what I’m going to do. BUT, last night I burned another pile of wood from the barn and as the flames went down and the char was just sitting there glowing, I decided , what the hell, I’ll use “one more” barrel for charcoal. Now I have 150 gal. Oh, decisions, decision. Should I char some Wi. Bratts or should I start a Gilmore Simplifier? Probably should shut up and get back to my present project.
Sorry Dan. Don’t mean to steel your thread. As I just stated a charcoal gasifier IS on my bucket list so I have started thinking about it. My first question is so basic that I’m sure some will consider it “dumb” but I have been told the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask. So, you start off with charcoal in a metal container, you shove a pipe into the container to about the middle, then you add heat (fire), then you have a outlet at the top of the container where you suck the fumes from the fire. If I add fire to charcoal out in the open, the fumes from the charcoal/fire will be CO2, carbon dioxide.yet in the gasifier you are pulling off CO carbon monoxide. Whether you get CO2 or CO; is that dependent on the size of the pipe in the bottom. If it gets too big and allows in too much air are you going to get CO2 Or, is the velocity of the gas being pulled off the reason. Do you have to give consideration to the size engine you are going to run when designing the size pipes in and out.
Basically you’r right, top you take away the gas, bottom-side is air intake.
Glowing charcoal will be producing heat and Co2 from burning carbon, the heat also converts the Co2 into Co and Carbon direct into Co
To make the heat: 1 C + 1O2 = Co2
1 C + 1/2 O2 = Co
The trick is to reduce the airintake to about 60% from the amount of gas needed ( or almost 25% from the total amount of mixture needed to run your engine with its displacement )
Optimal airspeed at nozzle = +/- 25 ms
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I am learning as well. Guys like Wayne, Gary and Koen have really got me thinking and experimenting with this stuff. I am thankful that I can learn more about gasification from those who are doing it.