Yes, thats what hard core charcoal junkie porn looks like…
Thats nearly a threefold increase in density. Oooh the possibilitys…
Are they easyer or harder to peletise thain wood in your machime?
Steve, thats exactly what l wuld use them. Since they wre all the same size, small and dense, a tiny downdraft hearth will make tons of gas and their density will extend hopper range 3 times! Just think about it, a 30 gal hopper will hold enaugh fuel for about 300 miles…
I don’t have any frame of reference. I’ve pellet-ized 2 times now. Both charcoal.
I can say that I have the roller tension really high. The pressures involved are big.
When I clean the flat die after the run …I can’t just knock it clean with a nail and hammer. I have to drill the left over out.
We burned a handful this afternoon. Cut a paint thinner can into an oven so we had clean, virgin metal to observe.
It burns HOT and LONG, then crumbles into a super fine dust. Almost like talcum.
My next press I am gonna halve the binder and roller pressure. See how that goes.
Ok Sensei take me to school.
If pellet-izing causes a
Then this estimate is no longer accurate?
Wouldn’t it be 5% / density increase ? Using the figures we have …
5% / 3 times the density ?
Which would make the apparent percentage of binder something like 1.6666… % by volume?
Physics guru’s … help a redneck out please.
Mark, your sence of humor is realy something 
I surely never was called that before and probably for a good reason
We talk mass percent here, not volume percent. There still is 50g of starch per kilo of charcoal, no matter the volume. Well, if we want accuracy, 4.76% since we got 1050g of the mix as you started with 1000g charcoal and added the starch.
Thank you,
Let me pull another “stupid question” stamp out of my ration book. It’s gettin thin.
Well since my eagerness CAN overcome my common sense, I’d better stay grounded with empirical measurements.
Tested my diesel irrigation system again. Removed the fuel tank and replaced it with a metered bottle so I can kinda sorta measure fuel usage.
Vikyno RV70 engine using a RS 80 water pump to push a 4" pipe full about 30 meters.
First day I ran on diesel only to get a baseline under load. 20 minutes for 150 ml avg over seven measurements. 7.5ml per minute
Second day I put the gasifier inline. The morning portion of the test was confusing and disappointing. Fuel usage was only about 5-10% better than pure diesel.
About noon I slowed the engine rpm’s a touch and removed all of the air filter fittings attached to the air mix valve.
Notice the field full of Calabasa.
WHOA! major improvement. I adjusted the gas flow to full open on a 1" valve. I slowly shut off air until the engine began to just hint at knocking. Then backed off a half a turn. Ran like a champ.
The air flow was about 50% open on a similar valve.
54 minutes for 150ml avg. over 3 measurements. 2.7ml per minute. In short … 3 times longer run time for same amount of fuel.
Today, (the 7th), I tore down the RV and inspected the valves, piston, and cylinder. Just a touch of dry white ash.
Hi Mark, you are getting better and better in the world of gasification and gas use, self-testing cannot replace any forum, school, or thick book, … bravo. 
Update. (Notespace)
Opened the drum. For a 6 hour run it consumed 14cm of an 88cm drum full. Half usage, (leaving insulation and filtration), would be 44cc.
Divided by 14 = just above 3. So that implies an 18 hour drum runtime.
I know my math skills are wonky but I can’t resist.
Nozzle is burnt back to 6", (out of 8"). This coincides with the drip output.
Go figure. Guess I gotta work out how I am gonna machine down and thread my heavy pipe stock using an angle grinder and Shopsmith.
Found the muck. It was in the 90 degree bend of the air filter intake manifold, (pictured right below the white pvc char-gas in fitting). About an half a cm thick coating.
Not sure what it is made up from. Or if it even came from the two charcoal runs I have done on this engine. I’ve used straight charcoal for both of those runs.
I did an examination under magnification. See some fibrous material. See some clay like material.
DOW’s got me nervous. Won’t use the pellets until I can figure out a suitable binder.
Those pellets are selling faster than I can make them anyway. Folks in the bario using them for cooking.
Just throwing this out there …
What do y’all think of clay as a binder?
I think it would pile up in the system and clog the filter.
First complete grass charcoal run.
Great resaults!
On using clay, no idea. It might work. But slag will form over time, as it will probably with the grass charcoal you made (high mineral content). If its a problem or not, thats a nother question. Probably not if the gasifier can be cleaned regularly.
But for cooking charcoal, clay might be great! Probably making a longer, less hot burning pellet
I gess i am missing the plan,or are you makeing pellets from dry grass or wet green grass.OR ? THANKS for sharring this idea.
Thank you,
For now I am gonna stick with S.F. type gasifier, (THANK YOU G.G. can’t say that enough), so cleaning is no problem.
Pellets from grass/dust charcoal. I am trying to see if I can power engines with the largest resource I have. Leafy green biomass.
Actually I am on a dual track. If the pellets contain too much tar, minerals, or some other un-disclosed “gotcha” … I’ll make them for cooking.
I made 20kg of pellets my first run. My neighbors have been hounding my gate for more.
Thanks for the input.
Good luck with your pellet makeing experiment/ The biggest problem i can see is geting the grass dry enough, unless you could dry the pellets out after they are made. It seems like the press makeing of the pellets,would get rid of most all the moisture there.
I’m sorry I was not clear. I’m not pellet-izing grass. I am pellet-izing charcoal.
End of the day numbers (Notespace)
Retort drum and fittings weigh 21.5kg. Stomp packed it full of dry saw grass. 30kg, (8.5kg biomass)
One batch cooked for 1.5 hours, (half the time of wood chips), with about 2/3rds the fuel. Final weight 25kg. (3.5kg net charcoal).
Was able to bake 3 full drum loads in 6 hours. (10.5kg produced in total). So that is comparable or slightly more than charcoal-ing wood chips in the same length of time. For a little less fuel.
Wood chips produced 35/10 ratio. Grass 25.5/10.5.
Pellet-izing
One thing that has been in the back of my mind is the “great pelletizer charcoal mud tsunami” I had on my first try.
During clean up there was a spot on the side where I could not get the charcoal to come off. I had to use a dull wood chisel, and the stain is still there.
So just throwing this out there … what do y’all think of charcoal as a binder? 
Apparently the pressures involved are great enough that I may not need a binder.
Still cleaning up. I’ll update weights and measures later
I make amended bio-char Mark. It’s from the fines left over after screening gasifier fuel. I add about a gallon and a half of various liquids in a five gallon batch and after a few days the liquid is absorbed and the char particles have to be broken up a little. Seems like they may bind well. Only thing in the liquid that would tend to congeal is calcium or maybe wood ash. Wood ash gets a little gooey at times also.
If the pure charcoal holds together that would be a very clean burning and consistent fuel for sure! Once it’s dried some I want to know the weight density per 5 gallon bucket.
I do too. I soak charcoal fines in effluent from a digester we have. Makes slow release fertilizer. Just out of curiosity, what makes up “various liquids”?
That is now the question, will it hold together in the hot, humid gasifier? I’ve read a lot of posts where the wood folks were bitching about it.
I been noodling various ways to crush test these pellets. Try to get some gauge on their psi rating.
5 gallon! Your making me work for it. K.L. only wanted a liter. I still have a drum and half to pellet-ize, then they gotta dry out for a day or so. But I will get you the number.
Thanks for the inputs. Every little bit helps.