[Gasification] GEK challenges: nichrome grate.

[gfwhell at aol.com]

Jim,

I have been following the gek development with grate interest, and thought perhaps you might consider a suggestion I have. There are 24v 5 coil range elements made,? for use in trailer homes. Which could possibly be adapted to form the GEK grate. It would probably ignite?fuel laying upon it even on a supply of?half?of its operating voltage, better still if a 
12 volt?element is available.?This would be handy for ignition purposes. It might also posses another use. The outer casing is of a high temperature metal surrounding a?coiled resistance wire of known resistance, which could be utilized for temperature measurement purposes, The resistance will rise with temperature and electronically it should be possible to obtain representative temperature readings from this red hot ring when the GEK is running.

Geoff
















-----Original Message-----
From: jim mason <jimmason at whatiamupto.com>
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 4:16 pm
Subject: [Gasification] GEK challenges: packed bed filter media, pressure drop vs grain size tests



for a long while i've used steel wool as the media in the gek packed
bed filter.  we're now suggesting charcoal grains for improved tar
capturing and ease of related disposal (back into the reactor).

bear kaufmann at our shop did some interesting tests yesterday to
determine pressure drop across the filter with various grain sizes. he
also related this to the Ergun predictive equation for determining the
same- in relation to media size, packed bed depth, and superficial
velocity through the filter.  (note we can use the same equation to
explore questions about pressure drop across the gasifier reduction
bell packed bed or TLUD vessels as well).

the results are very interesting.  oddly, the math is quite predictive
of what happens in the real world.  the results are here on the wiki:
http://gekgasifier.pbwiki.com/Filter-Pressure-Drop-vs-Char-Diameter

the general info on the how and why of changing to charcoal for the
filter media in the gek is here:
http://gekgasifier.pbwiki.com/Using-charcoal-for-media-in-the-packed-bed-filter

thank you bear.  i found this really interesting.

jim




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Jim Mason
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