gas from wood WWII high tec

has this been discussed?

wood gas is the decomposition of cellulose into a burnable gas made of hydrogen and carbon dioxide 

this guy has done a massive amount of rediscovering forgotten knowledge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Hbwtsyrxw ;

and more information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodgas

mother earth news ran a lot about wood gas in the 70's and 80's
overall not too impressive.
1)you need a truck with a bed to somewhat safely carry around the generator so you end up using a truck for a small cars job
2) and it still burns a lot of wood for not great power

Put the gasifier on a trailer to pull behind your small car.
According to Wikipedia these are still manufactured for cars in China and Russia.

Wood gas or syngas was what fueled the industrial revolution before petrochemical, the wood gas vehicles from WWII were used because there was no petrol available.

Thanks to the off grid and wood gas communities the lost knowledge is being reinvented for the next great global oil shortage.

Thank you to Ben from Victory Gasworks and many other garage tinkers that will allow the rest of us to have a local renewable energy when the black gold disappears   

rereading this I will retreat somewhat
IMO
-for transport woodgass is a horrid tech; heavy bulky generator with heavy bulky feul
-but for stationary applications, especially when the waste-heat can be used for home heating or other processes it has potential.

I'd like to second Brice Moss's comment, and add that there are potentially better ways for wood to fuel an engine.

Pyrolysis can produce methanol and/or acetic acid, both of which can produce esters that are good as motor fuel. Methanol is a feedstock for biodiesel, and ethyl acetate is potentially better than ethanol in several ways, including energy density and hygroscopicity (bonding to acetate makes it easier for ethanol to give up its hold on water). Methyl acetate is also usable, but is a little more toxic.

For the best DIY info on this tech I have been able to find check out

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/WoodGas/
http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/

Lots going on.

i have been very, very interested in syngas recently.  it seems to me that it is a very useful tool for electricity generation and for other local jobs.

if i had the resources (sustainable wood), i'd definitely hook up a syngas system on a tractor or farm truck.  most farmers have a diesel tank in their trucks anyways for refilling tractors and such, right?  why not replace that with a syngas system?

before i got interested in permaculture, i had a lot of time spent worrying about collapse and had anxious daydreams all the time about what i would do if XYZ happened.  i had thought a subaru baja would be the perfect get away vehicle.  a syngas system in the bed with racks for lashing supplies, etc.  the awd and the potential to beef up the suspension with rally-grade equipment and a slide plate under the drive train would make it a pretty much unstoppable vehicle.

i'm a member at instructables.com (it's a great site for any DIYer).  they have a step-by-step plan for converting a honda to syngas.  http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-your-Honda-Accord-to-run-on-trash/
you can follow links to CNC plans and all sorts of other stuff to make it happen.

it's really interesting stuff!

That instructable is from the owner of the site

http://www.gekgasifier.com/

A very nice system to experiment with, lots of options.

yeah, i love that they made a creative commons license available for all their designs and provided downloadable CNC code.

i'd love to see this technology expanded for small scale electrical generators and other off-grid applications.

hobbssamuelj wrote:

i'd love to see this technology expanded for small scale electrical generators and other off-grid applications.

Look on the right hand side of the link I gave above.  You will see a "power pallet" for 10-20kWe systems.  In other words they already offer the small scale generator there for off grid use.

Max

no apology implied, ben of victory gasworks is one of my "short duration prophets" so i know jim of the gekgasifier circle could use a mix of reality and vagisil.

anyway this is some off grid wood gasification porn! SFW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jbU150ulSQ