[Gasification] Did this Url -- now gasifier charcoal

[Peter Singfield]

At 09:09 AM 12/7/2006 -0800, you wrote:
>Peter,
>
>Since April 2002. You can find the link several ways on
>www.bioenergylists.org or www.repp.org along with othe stories, reports and
>contributions by the Karves. 
>
>See Contributors
>Search "Karve" in the regualr search or discussion list search
>
>
>Tom

Hey Tom;

Thanks for that info -- 

I better brief you all as to what is what in regards to charcoal making and
why the interest in that old Url of AD Karve's

The concept i am trying to pin down is "retort" making of charcoal. And
using only Cohune nut shell for that process.

The charcoal making also has to supply sufficient heat energy to boil a
tank of water which is part of the cohune shell/nut meat separation process.

In cohune nuts -- the meat is "crazy-glued" to the shell -- and separation
without prior treatment is a nightmare of useless effort.

But -- heat breaks down that crazy glue. 

I have heard "rumors" of a Guatemalan process. Here is how that goes.

The nuts are gathered and delivered to the processing site.

They are them crushed -- the crushed product dumped into a larger tank of
boiling water -- they say with salt added (probably to increase heat
transfer -- and higher temperature??)

The glue bond is broken -- the nut meat floats to the top -- the dense nut
shell sinks to the bottom

The nut meat goes immediatly to the oil expressor.

Then the large pannier (screen in a frame) is hand raised from the bottom
of the tank catching all the nut shell -- which is dumped to the side.

The nut shell is filled into charcoal making kiln -- the off heat from that
is used to boil the water.

both the oil and the charcoal is sold to Mexico.

the oil so produced is used for making very best quality soaps (course --
the biodiesel applications jumps up and slaps me in the head just about
then) and the charcoal is proper'y converted to activated charcoal in a
specialized Mexican mill -- being as cohune nut shell makes one of the very
best.

OK -- I have my existing oil expressor set up -- no problem there.

I also have a 150 gallon open flat tank for boiling down cane juice mounted
over my home made bagasse burning furnace.

I can crush nuts making up a simple large dropping hammer rig for now -- if
things work out -- get a small moving jaws stone crusher after.

The thing is -- how to port heat energy from charcoal kiln to furnace -- 

Well -- I believe I have that worked out -- at least enough to make a
prototype set up for now.

The thing is -- AD demonstrates a very need trick in his system.

He inserts a multiple of closed tubes filled with biomass to be carbonized
into the "oven" with small holes set in the bottoms of these tubes.

This greatly increases carbonizing surface area -- something along the
lines of a backwards operating fire tube boiler -- if you will.

Thus the process can advance to completion at a much faster rate than would
be normal.

There is no problem about how to burn the combustible parts of the off gas
either -- as they are directed straight down into the fire pit area.

So -- envision AD's device on a slightly larger scale.

Here in Central America water heaters are all butane fired - -single large
tube -- fire tube boilers.

They look like a regular electric water heater tank -- insulation and all
-- but have a small fire pit under them where butane is burned in a
controlled manner -- the heat of combustion rising up the central fire tube
-- which is about 3 to 4 inches diameter -- runs the complete length --
exiting the top as a snubby steel pipe chimney.

I can pick these up in the local garbage dumps -- carefully clean and patch
the holes -- and use them as AD type charcoal making kilns -- setting up a
number of these in a line --

I shall cut a small door in the top section of each for inserting and
removing material.

The bottom existing pipe fitting will be used to vent off gasses from the
charcoaling process to the fire pit for eventual self heating.

The entire unit will be mounted on a pivot -- so charcoal so produced can
be simply dumped out after.

The hot off-gasses will be piped to the cane juice boiler's fire pit which
will not be a hot water cohune nut shell/meat separation unit.

Secondary air might be introduced in small required amounts for total
combustion of off-gasses -- if i decide to run the kilns on less air -- as
in partial air combustion -- and making a little extra producer type gas --

Each charcoal kiln will have it's own small blower (car heater blowers very
common here) to encourage that gas flow.

To start each kiln I will use my favorite alternative fuel -- car tire
chunks -- which one makes by chopping them up with and axe on a hard wood
stick (of larger size)

There you have the very rough flow diagram --

As an aside -- this same device could be used to pyrolize waste car tires
-- but using the top pipe fitting rather than the bottom -- to dual fuel a
diesel??

The very pure carbon dust that makes up 40% or more of every car tire would
be the by-product.

The cohune nut charcoal dumped from the kiln after completion will be
screened to size for using as gasifier fuel.

the fines from that process will be ground to a powder (have a couple of
good corn grinders) and further experimentation in "activating" said
product later.

Peter -- Belize