Anyone offer a reliable gasification add on for a common generator? - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone offer a reliable gasification add on for a common generator?

Posted: 9/29/2016 2:13:41 PM EDT

We have a 12KW diesel genset but it rarely gets used any more since we added more solar a few years ago. We run just over 5KW in solar now and I have another 3KW sitting out there that I'll probably install sometime next year.

You see/hear people talk a lot less about wood gasification now than you used to.

I would have thought that if the idea was that viable that someone would have started producing a commercial set that added on to a common gas generator that people are using now. Be a good marketing idea for someone that could manufacture them, even on a small scale.

I have heard that the woodgas is very hard on small engines, perhaps that is why?

Thinking more along the lines of a small add on unit that people could buy, later when their other fuel options for their generator are depleted, they could hook up the wood gasification unit and still have something to produce power with.

Thoughts?

Posted: 9/29/2016 2:29:28 PM EDT

[#1]

Was used widely in France during the 2nd WW. Very low compression engines by today's standards.

Posted: 9/29/2016 3:41:16 PM EDT

[#2]

Gasification is a long putt and a bit of a contraption. I think a more sustainable program that could be done with less effort is simply making an alcohol powered genny and making ethanol. The other option would be a steam generator that uses wood. This could produce heat as well as power.

Either way, its best to plan for the most part how to get along without electricity OR how to store enough fuel for an extended period.

Posted: 9/29/2016 4:02:04 PM EDT

[#3]

Haven't bought or tried this guys plans, but I was impressed by his video demonstration enough to have the plans on my Christmas list.

Posted: 9/29/2016 4:27:28 PM EDT

[#4]

gasification produces carbon monoxide. reason they went away from it was too many deaths

Posted: 9/29/2016 4:46:08 PM EDT

[#5]

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gasification produces carbon monoxide. reason they went away from it was too many deaths

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So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

Posted: 9/29/2016 4:59:35 PM EDT

[#6]

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Quoted:

So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

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Quoted:

Quoted:
gasification produces carbon monoxide. reason they went away from it was too many deaths

So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

Not in anywhere near the quantity if they are ventilated properly.

Posted: 9/29/2016 7:02:24 PM EDT

[#7]

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Not in anywhere near the quantity if they are ventilated properly.

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Quoted:
gasification produces carbon monoxide. reason they went away from it was too many deaths

So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

Not in anywhere near the quantity if they are ventilated properly.

Yup. Gasification makes far more CO. If you wanna play with it just put it far away from the fam and enclosed structures

Posted: 9/29/2016 7:50:10 PM EDT

[#8]

Thoughts...

E775 #1

E775#2

E775#3

Posted: 9/29/2016 8:22:27 PM EDT

[#9]

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Quoted:

So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

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Quoted:

Quoted:
gasification produces carbon monoxide. reason they went away from it was too many deaths

So do BBQ grills and any combustion engine....

That's funny. Not because your wrong. Because simplified, gasification is like a bbq and combustion engine.

Posted: 9/30/2016 9:39:09 AM EDT

[#10]

E775#4

Posted: 9/30/2016 9:47:12 AM EDT

[#11]

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Quoted: Thoughts...

E775 #1

E775#2

E775#3

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Posted: 9/30/2016 9:47:56 AM EDT

[#12]

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Quoted: E775#4

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Posted: 9/30/2016 9:56:04 AM EDT

[#13]

I've been following this guy for a while. I want to try this eventually too.

http://www.driveonwood.com/press/wood-gas/

Posted: 9/30/2016 11:49:49 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
Gasification is a long putt and a bit of a contraption. I think a more sustainable program that could be done with less effort is simply making an alcohol powered genny and making ethanol. The other option would be a steam generator that uses wood. This could produce heat as well as power.

Either way, its best to plan for the most part how to get along without electricity OR how to store enough fuel for an extended period.

View Quote

Might be interesting to do so math on gasification to kw hours and ethanol to kw hours.

Can make ethanol from multiple sources

Posted: 10/1/2016 7:16:20 AM EDT

[#15]

The key to alternative power is batteries and inverters. With storage, you can run a generator for an hour or two, pump water, run A/C, etc. and store the extra for lights, refrigeration, and furnace.

Solar needs a generator for weather related periods. Propane doesn't get refilled if SHTF. The supply chain is too long and complex.

Gasifiers are necessary for long duration SHTF to TEOTWAWKI problems.

Posted: 10/4/2016 8:39:17 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
The key to alternative power is batteries and inverters. With storage, you can run a generator for an hour or two, pump water, run A/C, etc. and store the extra for lights, refrigeration, and furnace.

Solar needs a generator for weather related periods. Propane doesn't get refilled if SHTF. The supply chain is too long and complex.

Gasifiers are necessary for long duration SHTF to TEOTWAWKI problems.

View Quote

Got all that my brother. We've been producing our own power since late 1999. Currently 5KW solar, running 28 L16's in our battery bank. Have another 3KW of solar to install next spring.

It's all about options. I'm sitting amongst several hundred acres of woods..... And I'm in the south. We only use 1/2 cord to 2 cords of wood a winter for heat for the three stoves in the main house. Usually have 5-7 years of wood split and stacked amongst sheds in various states of drying.

Just considering various options/things I had not considered.

Ethanol- lots of corn correct? Unless you were talking about switchgrass and I missed it.

Corn= lots of nitrogen, at least down here in our soils. As an experiment one year I grew a small stand of corn via ONLY organic inputs. A 30x50 stand required ALL the manure we could scrounge from our rabbits, chickens and goats put on regularly to make that stand. We usually use commercial fertilizer if we grow corn down here. It is NOT deep Midwest soil that is super good. It's sand without a lot of OM.

So ethanol might be an option, but a highly strenuous one as I've grown corn here and realize how much N input it takes to get a good stand.

Posted: 10/4/2016 12:38:13 PM EDT

[#17]

Soybeans?

Posted: 10/5/2016 10:31:21 AM EDT

[#18]

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Soybeans?

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You mean for biodiesel? I was thinking the something similar. Wouldn't biodiesel be a better energy source than wood for the long term?

Posted: 10/5/2016 11:47:56 AM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

Got all that my brother. We've been producing our own power since late 1999. Currently 5KW solar, running 28 L16's in our battery bank. Have another 3KW of solar to install next spring.

It's all about options. I'm sitting amongst several hundred acres of woods..... And I'm in the south. We only use 1/2 cord to 2 cords of wood a winter for heat for the three stoves in the main house. Usually have 5-7 years of wood split and stacked amongst sheds in various states of drying.

Just considering various options/things I had not considered.

Ethanol- lots of corn correct? Unless you were talking about switchgrass and I missed it.

Corn= lots of nitrogen, at least down here in our soils. As an experiment one year I grew a small stand of corn via ONLY organic inputs. A 30x50 stand required ALL the manure we could scrounge from our rabbits, chickens and goats put on regularly to make that stand. We usually use commercial fertilizer if we grow corn down here. It is NOT deep Midwest soil that is super good. It's sand without a lot of OM.

So ethanol might be an option, but a highly strenuous one as I've grown corn here and realize how much N input it takes to get a good stand.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
The key to alternative power is batteries and inverters. With storage, you can run a generator for an hour or two, pump water, run A/C, etc. and store the extra for lights, refrigeration, and furnace.

Solar needs a generator for weather related periods. Propane doesn't get refilled if SHTF. The supply chain is too long and complex.

Gasifiers are necessary for long duration SHTF to TEOTWAWKI problems.

Got all that my brother. We've been producing our own power since late 1999. Currently 5KW solar, running 28 L16's in our battery bank. Have another 3KW of solar to install next spring.

It's all about options. I'm sitting amongst several hundred acres of woods..... And I'm in the south. We only use 1/2 cord to 2 cords of wood a winter for heat for the three stoves in the main house. Usually have 5-7 years of wood split and stacked amongst sheds in various states of drying.

Just considering various options/things I had not considered.

Ethanol- lots of corn correct? Unless you were talking about switchgrass and I missed it.

Corn= lots of nitrogen, at least down here in our soils. As an experiment one year I grew a small stand of corn via ONLY organic inputs. A 30x50 stand required ALL the manure we could scrounge from our rabbits, chickens and goats put on regularly to make that stand. We usually use commercial fertilizer if we grow corn down here. It is NOT deep Midwest soil that is super good. It's sand without a lot of OM.

So ethanol might be an option, but a highly strenuous one as I've grown corn here and realize how much N input it takes to get a good stand.

Corn is popular because of the subsidies.

Sugar is good if your in a tropical climate....You can also basically convert any sort of sweet fruit,beets, potatoes, etc.

Ethanol and moonshine are effectively the same process. Anything you can make into liquor can be used for ethanol.

Theoretically anything you can boil the fermentable sugars from will work, but will have to have some supplements to the mix so the yeast do their thing.