Only issue in his case is it would require a whole new gasifier build. It would be worth it in my opinion and just save the old gasifier as a reminder.
Edit: While I think it’s possible to correct a FEMA(Read, making it an Imbert), I also think it’s worth building a new gasifier either from WW2 designs or browsing the forum to find a build you think you can do.
Charcoal gasifiers are very simple, and you could salvage the main barrel for that.
Or you could buy Wayne’s book for his plans, a physical copy you can always look at for builds. Another book is the Wood Gasifier Builder’s Bible. I own both and recommend both just to learn from.
Honestly Cody, I have thought about that. Just doing a total rebuild - since everything is made as components I feel like I could just rebuild the reactor and reuse the cyclone filter, radiator and medium filter.
I am a bit aggravated though because in all the research I did before coming to this site, no one ever described any downsides to the FEMA design and everyone made like it was so simple and the standard to start out with and I feel like I started out a few steps already behind because I did not know. I sure wish I would have found this forum first.
Nevertheless, I might try a few more attempts to salvage what I have since it seems like I can’t be too far off - not sure - I’ll admit, its getting a little frustrating and I might walk away from it for a while if it aggravates me enough. One thing I’ve learned in all my years of fixing and building stuff is when something gets aggravating, take a break, decompress, so that when you return to it your thinking is sharp again and you are thinking more clearly and can get back to problem solving and not thinking out of frustration.
I do have another question to ask if any one wants to answer it - since I’m still trying to diagnose what is going wrong - even if I scrap this one, I’m trying to figure out what is going wrong. So my question pertains to smoke.
So when you first fire up a gasifier, you are producing smoke for a few minutes until it gets hot enough to strip the oxygen is my understanding right? So when you see smoke that is an indication of oxygen present I guess? Meaning the fire isn’t hot enough to strip it?
So I hope this doesn’t sound too ignorant, but in other words if the smoke passes through a hot enough fire it strips the oxygen - or does it never get to the smoke stage if that makes sense? I’m just trying to understand if my fire is not getting hot enough or what else I can learn by the presence of smoke.
Also did anyone get a chance to look at my flare (above) and does it look like it should work ok?
The smoke is made at all times in the hopper. It’s a result of pyrolysis, heat turning the biomass into carbon(charcoal).
The hot hot active zone of charcoal scrubs and cracks the impurities in the smoke and other vapors.
Your nozzles should be the only source of oxygen in the gasifier. That’s what keeps the charcoal burning at the Satan’s Buttcrack temps.
As the wood is turning into charcoal it’s replenishing that layer of charcoal.
Basically the wood is the fuel and the catalyst at the same time depending on what layer you’re looking at.
At the top is the wood still drying
Lower down you have Brands, super dry wood.
Then the charcoal that isn’t in the active zone
Then the active zone
And below the restriction(choke) is the Recovery Zone, it’s the charcoal that didn’t burn away, and is helping to scrub the gas further.
Suction from your engine or fan is what draws all of the process. That’s why even the smallest pinhole in the wrong place can mess up a run. If oxygen is introduced after the gas is made it’ll be what’s called a Hot Leak, because it burns immediately right at the leak and you’ll see the hot spot. You’ll also see a decrease in power or a total lack of power entirely.
If you haven’t already you should check out the Library, lots of PDFs on there. I like the Gengas book, but mostly to just look at the designs of the old WW2 gasifiers they show in a cutaway drawing.
Thanks Cody, that explanation helps a lot actually and gave me another thought of where I might be having a problem - when you mentioned a pin hole leak it got me to thinking about the structure overall and the only other place I can think of that might have an area that could cause a pinhole leak is the linkage to the shaker grate. I am now thinking I might remove it all together and just plug that hole. This will at least eliminate that as a source of an air leak and help me to diagnose further. If that does turn out to be the culprit, then I guess I will have to address how to fix it but at least I will know if that ultimately has been the problem all along. I’ve gone over everything and other than my hopper lid which I’m still struggling to get airtight and is still is giving me problems, but in a way shouldn’t be the ultimate cause of my troubles since its before the choke point conversion I can’t figure out anywhere else that uncontrolled air could be entering past the choke point - except with this new possibility that I hadn’t thought of before, the shaker grate linkage. I just couldn’t imagine that it could have made that big a difference, but after reading your explanation above - I feel like I had better eliminate it as a possibility.
I know we try and present in simplifications, but DerrickD you’ve asked a question that can only be answered in molecular precision.
So what is smoke? Visible water vapor droplets. All kinds of combinations of chains of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen molecules. Hundreds of them. Many of these also visible.
These are all able to be converted into some type of combustible woodgas.
IF you control the processes.
IF you can produce enough HEAT energy to convert them all.
IF you allow the time in zones, in the gasifier (residence time) for these conversions to take place.
IF you have the made available wood charcoal to do the converting. IT does get used up giving up carbon molecules doing this. You must self-generate and replenish the wood charcoal.
Everything done best practices and the only thing you are actually “scrubbing” from the system will be the stripped down to minerals “ash” in the cells walls that the trees up-took from the soils, growing.
Everything designed and best practices operated, and you will be in two places condensing out the excessive three sources of water moisture a system cannot use. The problem here is you will run out of heat energy to use up all of the made available water. WHY the advanced systems insulate, insulate, insulate to retain heat. Adding in heat energy into the inlet air. Adding in heat enrergy to the wood fuel (drying it externally). Adding heat energy into the gasifiers pyrolysis wood cooking zones. The added in heat energy can come from the produced woodgas cooling areas. The added heat energy can come from the IC engine being ran.
And you will also produce “scrub out” some thick heavy refined out wood tar.
And I run counter, thinking you should get-together what you have already, to learn.
Plenty of fellows who do not want to year, after year ride the better-gasifier horse and happy running their generator engines with some pretty non-ideal systems on wood they grow on their own properties. That is their prize. MY wood. MY energy. For me, and my family.
Regards
Steve Unruh.
Derrick, you are not the only one that is here on this DOW sight that has said this. My first atempted was a no go for a wood gasifier, and I remade it into a retort to make charcoal. Parts of another one of my charcoal gasifiers is being remade into another gasifier. This great, to reuse the parts. And now look how much you have learned already. You are on your way to building a great gasifier. Find the plans that fit what you want to do and follow the plans.
What Cody said is true the charcoal build is much easier to build to get your experiance in how gasification works. Once you competly understand gasification. The building becomes easier. Good job on your first atempt. Now on to the next build or modify and make this one work as a charcoal gasifier.
Bob
Quite possibly true. It was released in 1989, which is the end of the Reagan Regime.
Reagan killed any and all attempts for renewable energy.
Honestly the FEMA probably runs better more like a DriZzleR then an imbert.
I honestly don’t think you are far off.
For shits and giggles, try operating it like a drizzler. basically keep a thin layer of new material on top and on fire, and the gas and flames gets sucked through the charbed. you should see small flames on top. block all air input except through the top. However, be forewarned once suction is removed or blocked it can shoot up flames.
With the larger chunks of wood like WK uses, you might be able to have a hopper full since air can pass through without restriction, and suction is limiting the air to the thin layer.
It is just the opposite of what we are telling you, but after looking at the plans again and seeing the drizzler run. i am guessing it works. just not like an imbert. To be honest, I don’t think I would drive with it even if it does work for safety reasons and I don’t think it will be as efficient.
I may just try that Sean, but a further question to help me diagnose - if I try running it drizzled style, open top and still do not produce syngas, would this then positively indicate that I must have an oxygen leak to deal with somewhere in the gas collection zone past the choke point? I am assuming that would mean yes?
It would be a good indication yes. You should probably pressure test it anyway. Just playing the percentages of how many leaks in first time builds over the years, is pretty close to 100%, and usually 2+ attempts to correct them.
and it really needs more of a funnel shape angle on the sides, it is basically the kon-tiki of gasifiers. but eventually char will build up on the sides, and do that. Usually the issue with the Fema’s isnt that they don’t work, but they just make tar. The wood might be too wet as well. I don’t know.
It depends on what he has for a wood source and processing as well.
Looking at the drawing, I was thinking where will the water and tar condensation go if it is a woodgasifier? And the extra tar gooy mess that will drip down the sides of the hopper wall?
Maybe make the hopper taller and not insulated with cooling tubes like a WK hopper, and a gutter to catch the water and tar flowing down. Draining it into a tank.
Bob
Tone cast iron brake rotors were Mike LaRosa’s design. His no-welds. Used as face-to-face doubled up.
Other times used as a single forming the restriction, open upward as the entry. Or opening downward as the exit.
Some have worked forwards from his designs.
And we all have been saving back take off disc brake rotors as a some-day, maybe need.
So has been proven. Used. Works.
Regards
Steve Unruh
It is kind of like LaRosa’s but I think it is closer to what his next one was going to be after the one in the video. He sounds confused or like he is hiding something in the video, but it works more like he describes it but not exactly like you think. It is just a bit dangerous and that is what he was hiding. And I am guessing it probably worked well.
gas, flame and oxygen of course. IIRC Mike had a scare with it, and didn’t want 100s of people copying it especially if it went viral with ID10Ts like MrTeslonian.
The timeline is all mixed up for me. And there were patent trolls on the yahoo list. So any open discussion like ‘hey why don’t you try xxxx’ resulted in xxxx getting patented. Mike really didn’t like that.
This patent expired because of non-payment though:
BTW I was trying to say OMG that isn’t original or dissuade you from doing it.
The only criticism I would have is the bell coming down is going to be a heat magnet, and probably melt quickly.
One of the key aspects of the nozzles, and I don’t know if many do it or not, is you are trying to get even oxygen over the whole bed and reduce channeling in the bed, and other flow issues.
The only gasifier I can think of offhand with nozzle pointed down is the Kalle which is a charcoal gasifier and supposedly fairly popular. But that reused exhaust gas to limit oxygen.
