hello people. really excited that I found this forum. I have a few ideas out here on where to start. Id like to get the cleanest gas I can, I also want to use it on propane grills. can it be compressed and used with a propane ragulator? I know the btu rating is far diffrent. anyone have any reads to suggest on how to clean the gas for storage?
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There’s no safe way to compress woodgas at home, the hydrogen in the gas makes steel tanks brittle over time as well. You’d have to have a compressor that can draw enough CFM on the gasifier to make clean gas, and not get any oxygen mixed in or it will be explosive. Not saying it’s impossible but it’s hard to do it safely and inexpensively at the home level.
You can store it in a gasometer or gas bag(think air mattress), which is workable with a propane system. It’s not really compressed and is just pushed back out by the weight of the top of the gasometer or a weight put on the gas bag.
Or you could make a gasifier that runs on a blower directly to the appliances. It’s been done before.
Charcoal will make the most clean gas straight from the reactor but it’s BTU value is lower than gas from a raw wood system. There are charcoal gas fired stoves being used in remote areas of Africa because it’s not smoky like using the charcoal directly.
What you could do with your grill is make it’s own burners made for the woodgas, and use a DC powered bilge blower to draw on the gasifier itself and push it into the grill burners.
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I just skip the gasification part and just use the charcoal I make directly in my BBQ. Ive made all my meals on the grill from last May to now on charcoal I made in my kiln. One batch run of charcoal will last my grill for 2 to 3 weeks.
If you want simple and clean gas start with a simple fire. You will learn all the basics and get a foundation to build on. Many of your ideas will change after you build and get some experience running a unit. So keep it simple at first and low cost. The SimpleFire is a perfect system to get started its low tech and will cost less than any other system. You will learn to crack water with it and learn this much more than converting wood to engine fuel.
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I would go with this option. That, or rocket stoves. Best to just use that heat directly. A well built rocket stove will put out some awesome heat for cooking.
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Welcome to the forum, and ditto on what Cody and Matt said.
GC
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I agree with the charcoal. I thought of using in the propane cook top in my RV, that is my interest in it.
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I actually live in a 31 foot RV. I built a wood stove for it.
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