[Digestion] condensation in gas lines

[Art Krenzel]

Stan,

I think there is a fundamental error in this thinking about air saturated 
with water vapor after a compression process.

If you have a water saturated gas stream at 5 atmospheres at room 
temperature and just allow the gas to drop to atmospheric pressure as you 
would to feed it into the intake of an IC engine, the natural humidity 
content of the gas DROPS.

This is the basic process for removing water from instrument air.  You take 
a airstream which is saturated with water at room temperature and compress 
it to a higher pressure.  Then cool it (using refrigeration) and the water 
precipitates out, release the pressure again and now you have operating dew 
points in the -40 deg F range.

You may not have a saturated air problem after all.

As a pilot, carburetor icing can occur at a wide range of temperatures but 
are more common with water saturated air streams below 40-50 degree F.  Most 
ground based IC engines operate in an environment of 60 - 100 deg F range 
using 50% relative humidity air and carburetor icing is not considered a 
problem.

I like the idea of using waste heat and the romance of absorption 
refrigeration but the Coefficient of Performance of the absorption process 
is quite low.  The gases exiting the gasifier come out at 1200 - 1500 
degrees F.  Why don't you recover that heat and use it to heat the gasifier 
intake air.  You also gain by cooling the product gases so you can feed them 
into an IC engine at normal temperatures.  There should be a favorable 
balance of energy to heat the gasifier feed air to a high temperature 
easily.  The location of the hot and cool airstreams are adjacent so the 
insulated piping of the air becomes much easier than ducting from an IC 
engine located some distance from the gasifier.

Art Krenzel, P.E.


>
>> Gentlemen,
>> Regarding the water based CO2 scrubbing, wouldn't this give you methane
>> that was saturated with water vapor?  I'm not sure what this would do
>> inan engine.  Maybe cause icing in your carburetor?
>> The beauty of absorption cooling is that it is driven primarily by low
>> quality (thermal) energy rather than expensive shaft power or
>> electricity. Hence you could make electricity with your methane and then
>> use the waste engine jacket and exhaust pipe heat to create cooling.
>> Have your cake and eat it too.
>> Stan L Simon, P.E.
>>
>>
>
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