[Gasification] Fwd: the gasifier in your shirt pocket (aka:thecigarette)

Thu Feb 8 20:21:52 CST 2007

Tom...

I see you are a "Bring down the house" kind of entertainer... LOL, J/K

Keep up the fantastic work!

Greg Manning

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Reed" <tombreed at comcast.net>
To: "jim mason" <jimmason at whatiamupto.com>; "GASIFICATION" 
<GASIFICATION at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Fwd: the gasifier in your shirt pocket 
(aka:thecigarette)

> Dear Jim and All:
>
> I'm well known for risking my health demonstrating the difference
> between updraft (blow through the lit end and watch the clouds of smoke)
> and downdraft (blow through the biomass end and watch most of the smoke
> disappear - or turn a light blue).  Probably shortens my life by 1/2
> hour per demo.  I keep breath spray in my pocket for cleanup afterwards.
>
> (Updraft = charburning, tar making;  downdraft = tar burning char making).
>
> If you take a lungfull of oxygen and blow through a cigarette of cigar,
> you will get a 6 inch flame of burning producer gas.
>
> GIve it a try,
>
> TOM REED     (BEF
>
>
>
> jim mason wrote:
>> tom, did you do something similar to this?  i just got the note below.
>>
>> j
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: astrupgaard <astrupgaard at c.dk>
>> Date: Feb 8, 2007 1:13 AM
>> Subject: RE: [Gasification] the gasifier in your shirt pocket (aka:
>> thecigarette)
>> To: jim mason <jimmason at whatiamupto.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I can't withstand the opportunity to refer to the one time I had the
>> chance to meet Dr. Tom Reed in Copenhagen. He gave a demonstration of
>> the inverted downdraft gasifier - in the shape of a cigar. Simple !
>>
>> Best regards/ Med venlig hilsen
>>
>> ENVIPOWER AS
>>
>> Nils Peter Astrupgaard
>>
>> Snerlevej 1 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby
>>
>> +45 4061 5600
>>
>> npa at envipower.dk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org
>> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of jim mason
>> Sent: 7. februar 2007 23:55
>> To: gasification at listserv.repp.org
>> Subject: [Gasification] the gasifier in your shirt pocket (aka:
>> thecigarette)
>>
>> the cigarette gasifier:
>> http://whatiamupto.com/Gasification/cigifier/index.htm
>>
>>
>> recently it occurred to me that a cigarette is a ready-made,
>>
>> off-the-shelft, light-it-up-and-go gasifier.  "waste" biomass in.
>>
>> flammable gaseous fuels out.  really cheap and easy "construction"
>>
>> too.
>>
>>
>> think about it.  the cigarette is a directional, air constrained,
>>
>> choked combustion unit.  full combustion at the tip produces CO2, H20
>>
>> vapor and heat.  the heat propagates inward on the drag, pyrolysing
>>
>> (charcoalizing to raw carbon) the tobacco ahead of the flame front.
>>
>> the CO2 and H2O from the combustion are then passed over the resulting
>>
>> red hot coals (C) making the gasification reduction reactions happen:
>>
>> CO2 + C = 2CO
>>
>> H2O + C = H2 + CO
>>
>> the result is H2 and CO are both flammable, and are inhaled along with
>>
>> lots of tars, creosotes, other heavy and light hydrocarbons, and of
>>
>> course, nicotine, itself a flammable alkaloid hydrocarbon that has
>>
>> been noticed to have pleasant stimulant effects
>>
>> (note: this is the staged combustion/reduction explanation.  you can
>>
>> also explain it with the flaming pyrolysis model if you want).
>>
>>
>> but then why won't the exhaled smoke light?  i've never seen cigarette
>>
>> smoke blown over a match make a flameup.
>>
>> well, it must be because CO is highly attracted to hemoglobin and goes
>>
>> into your blood on the inhale, thus why CO is so dangerous.  it
>>
>> colonizes all the O2 receptors in your blood, which at volume is how
>>
>> CO asphyxiates you.  CO poisoning at low levels just gives you a
>>
>> headache. somewhat like cigarettes.  or living in LA.
>>
>>
>> maybe cigarettes are, in fact, the stealth back door route to a future
>>
>> of hydrogen rich, biomass derived, flammable fuels?  there is already
>>
>> a huge lobby in place, along with a giant already existing
>>
>> infrastructure for growing, processing, distribution, taxation, etc.
>>
>> friends in high places too.
>>
>>
>> obviously this needed to be tested, so last night i set up a rig to
>>
>> gasify cigarettes for both raw flame as well as gaseous fuel to run a
>>
>> electricity producing generator.  the results are here:
>>
>> http://whatiamupto.com/Gasification/cigifier/index.htm
>>
>> the results were very nasty and smelly.  the bench was covered with a
>>
>> mountain of cigarette debris.  but it did work.  not for very long,
>>
>> and not very well, mind you, but the gasified cigarettes did produce a
>>
>> fuel adequate to power a 10hp, kw generac generator.  cigarettes in:
>>
>> electricity out.  ridiculous . . .
>>
>> it took about six packs of smokes, or 120 cigarettes to get about a
>>
>> minute run on the engine.  not a particularly efficient fuel, grant
>>
>> you, but we do have a lot of it around, and i'm sure some improvements
>>
>> in design are possible.
>>
>>
>> ok, i admit i had to cheat a bit.  or rather, "improve" on the
>>
>> cigarette gasifier design.
>>
>> cigarettes are not well enough insulated to keep the coal bed
>>
>> adequately hot for the reduction reactions to happen efficiently.  the
>>
>> result is a very low energy fuel.  so i had to pack lots of cigarettes
>>
>> together, and encase them in a steel pipe, with a little aluminum foil
>>
>> and air pocket insulation around it.  that was enough to make it work
>>
>> just fine.
>>
>>
>> unfortunately i forgot the "grate".   so the engine vacuum eventually
>>
>> pulled the cigarettes through the steel pipe, right into the engine.
>>
>> through the pipe, then through the carburetor, through the manifold,
>>
>> past the intake valve and into the cylinder, still as whole
>>
>> cigarettes.
>>
>> in the cylinder, the piston packed them up against the head like a
>>
>> cigarette pellet pancake making machine, stalling out the engine out.
>>
>> terrible horrible noises were heard as everything came to a sudden
>>
>> stop.  pulling the start rope wouldn't budge the motor.
>>
>> i took the head off and there was cigarette cake packed on the top of
>>
>> the piston, as well as a valve floated off the seat on tobacco crumbs.
>>
>> one cigarette butt too, whole.
>>
>> all and all, quite a good demonstration for why it is a good idea to
>>
>> gasify solid fuels before trying to burn them in an internal
>>
>> combustion engine.  2 x 4s would probably be even worse  . .
>>
>> j
>>
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>
>
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