Safety of Wood Gas [Gasification] storing wood gas.

[Mark Ludlow]

If being odorless is a problem, a little methyl mercaptan addresses that.
Heavier-than-air gasses such as propane are always a bigger problem than
those that rise and disperse. They lurk at floor level and accumulate in
basements and boat bilges where sources of ignition such as pilot lights or
sparks exist. NFPA 58 and other codes address the safety issues from a
combustion/explosion point of view and OSHA has plenty to say about health
aspects.

It seems ironic that an easily ignitable and toxic vapor such as gasoline is
self-dispensed and used universally without the problems some imagine for
wood gas. Yes, wood gas is toxic inasmuch as CO is toxic. Years ago, our
local hospital treated a family who was poisoned by trying to heat their
house with a charcoal grill. That's one strike against barbequing!
Cigarettes produce CO as just one of their many toxins but life goes on. How
about some cheap carbon monoxide detectors? Check Amazon. COM.

Producer gas plants have a bad reputation today because they did not deal
well with coal tar residues. In their time they were much appreciated.

Mark


-----Original Message-----
From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Harmon Seaver
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 3:10 PM
To: Gasification
Subject: Re: Safety of Wood Gas [Gasification] storing wood gas.


On 6/15/06, Kevin Chisholm <kchisholm at ca.inter.net> wrote:
> Dear List
>
       (snip)
>
> LPG and Natural Gas are in safe widespread use, even though they are 
> explosive and a fire hazard. Procedures and standards have been 
> developed to permit safe and reliable of these hazardous gases. The 
> same thing can be done with wood gas.

   Yes, they could. One thing that they both have is a "scent" marker.
Also, one major difference is that they are both fairly non-toxic, meaning
yes, they can suffocate you if you have no O2 coming into the room, but
otherwise are no problem. LPG is heavier than air, while woodgas is lighter
than air. So if you have a propane leak (and who
hasn't?) it's not a big deal usually, it just flow out the door.
Woodgas flows right up to where you are breathing, and woodgas, unlike the
other two, is seriously toxic.


>
> We could start by looking at the practices employed by the Coal Gas 
> Industry a hundred years ago, and build on their gas handling 
> technology and experience to deliver wood gas safely to the point of 
> use. In this day and

   Good grief! Yeah, right, let's go back to all the environmental
proscriptions from 100 years ago. Do you have any concept of how many coal
gas production sites are still posing serious environmental problems in
2006? That is exactly why anyone trying to setup a big gasifier today runs
into a brick wall with local enviro authorities.
Or certainly should.

--
Harmon Seaver
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