[Gasification] Use Tar to Make More Gas

[andy schofield]

Dear Ian,

Leland has it in that the gasifier must be run at the top of the range of 
turn-down.
Today I just completed a forty-mile run driving a wood-fueled 1/2 ton 
pickup. I burned a less than 128 liters of wood-blocks.  I drained-out six 
liters of condensate from my gas cooler. Please note that NO TARS  were in 
the drain pan! During the run, the throttle was wide-open as much as safley 
possible. Top speed on the flat ground was 45 mph (a new record for me). 
Others have gone much faster! Spark advance from the driver's seat is the 
next fabrication project.

  There is a continuum between excess air and starved-air combustion. 
Operate your gasifiers fast enough to be near the point where your final 
combustion equipment can tolerate the tars that get out your hot-gas outlet. 
Flat-head engines (good beginner's engine if you can find one) can gobble a 
lot of tar before they won't run. Efficient over-head valve engines can't.

  Never use a wet-scrubber. I know of a super-fund site that first began to 
be messed-up in the 1880s only just now is remidiated and finished to USEPA 
specification. Charcoal (for making iron), and methanol production from wood 
was practiced at this site.  Look up "Mancelona, Tar Lake". Wet scrubbers 
mix this kind of tar with water...then what do you do with it? Burn your 
tars in the gasifier to produce more gas!

Go Detroit Tigers!

Andy Schofield
Great Lakes Renewable Fuels

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