May just be slag.
Do you have hard water?
5 Likes
I dont think so, it is well water but its drinkable and not colored or anything. But who knows whats in it.
7 Likes
Could just be minerals in the charcoal. I noticed that a fair bit in my flute nozzle, crumbles really easily.
6 Likes
Hi Cody, This is actually an positive attempt from Team Off Grid Pro ( i was part of it ) to produce a suitable gasifier , non farmer style ( my Thailand gasifier style ), to try and sell on larger scale.
However things are not always that easy to accomplish.
Development is a cash drain…
That is why i admire the efforts of Matt, doing so much to develop his own idea’s.
13 Likes
Test with rain water, to see if theres a difference in white “ash”?
10 Likes
As per experience, water/steam/reformation/carbon/minerals/hydrogen, its a combination of sulphates and calcites, you can identify from taste and odor.
sometimes you can find it on battery poles, where the color green develops from copper sulphate.
12 Likes
12 Likes
hi Tone, this is a bit to far “of topic” and some of us would start debating the pros and cons…
a charcoal gasifier is just the bottom half of the woodgasifier 
without wood no charcoal, without charcoal no functioning of a woodgasifier 
@all, lets try to keep it Nozzle related. water/steam with charcoal nozzles is just fine for the cooling and benefit of using charcoal/ designing performance nozzles…
13 Likes
Hahaha your a funny guy Tone I love cartoons!! 
5 Likes
Whats odd though is this fuel is from the same wood I harvest this year and the water is the same source as always. Ive done quite a few full clean outs and dumped the gasifier and this is the first time ever seeing this and also the first time using this nozzle arrangement. So I think there is a direct relationship. I dont think its ash either maybe due to slower charcoal consumption and flow along with the higher temp water reaction so more time for this stuff to form? Thats my guess. It dont matter really its just an interesting observation and change.
6 Likes
Matt, despite the non-return valve, steam is found in the tank? Perhaps two valves in series with an expansion chamber could solve the problem. steam from the chamber could be redirected to the nozzle ! 
5 Likes
Yeah thats what I just revized. there are now two connections from tank. The water plus a steam return line. Its just a tube that extends up from the bottom of the tank internally to the top so that steam can vent thru it. Then a hose connects it to the nozzle. It works tested last night.
7 Likes
The two topics led by Matt are intertwined, where we try to find out how much water is needed for the optimal operation of the charcoal gasifier and how to dose this water - water vapor into the process. Kristjan wrote somewhere that 1 kg of charcoal can convert 1 liter of water into a strong gas, I also note this in my thinking and add that the easiest way to achieve this is by heating the air and water to 80°C, thus obtaining the appropriate concentration of moist air , which further heats up in the nozzle to a high temperature and thus cools the nozzle at the same time.
In the drawing above, I tried to show the energy balance and efficiency of converting wood into electricity. I used our friend Matt’s data and my own measurement data. We can understand that when cooking charcoal we lose a third of the energy, which we try to return in an efficient gasifier by adding water, but here it is necessary to use part of the waste energy from cooling the engine and preserve as much energy as possible with high temperature for the course of the process, so the gas will be very strong and the efficiency will increase considerably. Evaporation of 1 liter of water requires 0.625 kW of energy, if we add air preheating to this, we can predict a net saving of 1 kWh when converting 1 kg of charcoal.
8 Likes
I can validate that as this also my findings now. After evaluation of that last run that was the end result, 10 lbs of charcoal converted 5 liters of water. Once I factored the net output to the btu value of 5 liters and the hopper charge is static that is about the same outcome.
This actually levels the playing field between the two technologies. You lose the energy making charcoal but it only takes less than half the wieght of charcoal to produce the same net energy out as wood fuel system at this smaller scale. Yes Ive done better than 3 lbs with a wood gasifier but its not typical. It generally took 3 to 4 lbs of wood fuel to produce 1 kW/hour net. Versus now with the charcoal unit it takes less than 1.5 lbs of charcoal to produce the same net energy. The scales is now balanced. Both can do better or worse, but are now fairly equal; gross energy in versus net energy out.
Fuel process for me is the same. I have to cut and split the wood reguardless of technology. After that the feed either goes into a retort or into a chipper to break down the fuel. There are also losses with a chipper about 25% loss. Both processes require fuel input chippers dont run on air. A retort can run on garbage wood like pallets and other waste materials. But that is the end of process for charcoal Wood fuel stil requires drying. So in conclusion there is actually more processing steps for wood fuel than there is for charcoal and wood fuel requires much longer time to dry.
12 Likes
Matt thanks for all this info.
Above you have shown the white ash surrounding the nozzle, in my experience this is a sign of good gasifier operation, where all the charcoal is converted to gas, when the inside of the pipe from the refrigerator in my Fergi is gray, I know that the gasifier is working optimally and producing strong gas. Yesterday the condensation cooling fan stopped working, but I still worked with the tractor. The discharge of water was less, I noticed a little less power and the tube was black. I should add that there was no water in the refrigerator and no water in the filter either. Obviously, the temperatures inside were lower and there was a lack of oxygen for the formation of CO, because the expansion of water vapor prevented the entry of air into the process, however, I am not afraid of tar breaking through the hot zone.
Charcoal gasifiers are certainly very interesting, you, Giorgio, Kristjan,… prove this, and due to their relatively simple construction, they have an advantage over wood gasifiers. Unfortunately, if we look at the efficiency of the entire conversion, the numbers are on the side of wood gasifiers.
8 Likes
I disagree thats not what my numbers are showing. Its actually now if favor of charcoal. Gross input versus net output are now proving charcoal is more effiicient with this new nozzle.
3 lbs of gross wood fuel on average to produce 1 kW/hour For wood gasifier. (thats not including the energy to fuel the equipment for chipper or chunker)
Same 3lbs of gross wood converted to charcoal = net 1.5 lbs charcoal with water injection will produce the same net output. ( I actually did with less than 1.5 lbs.) ( plus Im not losing 50% wieght its more like 30% as Im using waste wood that I would not use in a gasifier anyways to fire the retort)
But granted I am now using seasoned fire wood pre kiln. < just making that clear. Wood fuel gasification you dry fuel after your method of break down process. Charcoal you dry fuel pre retort process. So to do either right you need to use dry feed stocks to achieve this outcome.
8 Likes
very interesting discussions…some month ago a friend visits me, and we started the first time the bcs mower…with this occassion i tried a provisoric water dripping direct in the nozzle, it was nice to see how the drop changes in steam immediately, but rpm of the engine not goes higher, more the opposit, it becomes lower.
the discussion of steam expansion told here, can be a solution: primary air suction in the hearth was maybee limited by steam expansion?
if someone misses our "likes " actually, dont worry, i am on board, only cannot log-in every day, computer settings were unfortunately changed, so permanent log in works not more…
ciao giorgio
13 Likes
Hi Giorgo,
Many things happen when you inject water…
Hereby a short clip where as i inject water in the nozzle ( bottom left corner ) you can hear the rpm/sound coz open pipe with AFR sensor readout middle right under the white hose.
It depends your RPM settings , load and your own habbits on how the water will act on your output.
9 Likes
This time i use a blow torch , propane, aimed in the nozzle…
Tell me what you see and what you hear…
The nozzle is actually extracting heat from the inside towards the outside , surface mass conduction,
Thick welded to the gasifier hull for maximum heat transfer and coolest nozzle tip.
The nozzle tip protrude about 3/4" inside, you can see where the heat is dissipated around the nozzle / gasifier surface
10 Likes
Assuming , same as me, nothing else to do than enjoying research with gasification…
This is a multi channel ceramic nozzle design, can run at 1,700 degree Celsius.
Assume you have an electric gasifier and the tools to measure output gas quality of your gasifier, energetic value of fuel and so on…
so many things to observe, to learn…
For example, heat up your charcoal , just before melting temperature, in an electric retort, then another heater that heats up water into 1300 Degree Celcius steam…
How much water can eat away how much charcoal ?
14 Likes