Question for our Canadian members

[PatMarlin]

I'm looking for a LAIMET HP-21 (or similar sized) screw auger brush/wood chipper that's made in Europe, but they are sold in Canada. Can be seen here:

http://www.fuelwood.co.uk/page30.html

Was wondering if any of you folks ever see them, or know of one for sale, preferably used. I wonder what it would cost to import a piece of equipment like that? No dealers in the US, at least there isn't any now. Never saw one for sale in the US.

I have a friend near Spokane that the unit could be shipped to.

[kodiak1]

Not that particular brand but there is a couple of Companies up here in Alberta that build similar. One is in Edmonton Area (Leduc I believe) and one in Airdrie (Calgary Area).
If you had a link to find a dealer in Canada a person could probaly narrow it down more.
Ken.

[robertbank]

I will poke around town for you. If you can get one that was made in either Canada or the US you might save a bundle on import duties as a domestic product produced in either country would fall under NAFTA. I see chippers like that on the web site in use around town by the City and others. I'll try to get back to you over Christmas if that is OK.

Take Care

Bob

[PatMarlin]

Great. Thanks for the help and replies.

The reason I need this kind of machine is because of the size chips it makes. The screw auger cutter produces wood blocks instead of chips like all the drum type and disk type chippers here in the states.

The reason I need block is for wood Gasification or a wood gasifier to generate fuel to run engines.

We've been living off the grid for nine years now, and I've gained a lot of experience in alternative energy systems, so I'm going into that business.

In the forest we have an abundance of wood fuel obviously. Most people in these areas do not have water ways for hydro power, and wind generation is not steady enough to work well. Solar panels/inverter/ batteries with generator backup is the off grid system of choice, but you need to keep the system charged during the winter sunless days.

The whole key really to a comfortable life in the outback is keeping the batteries charged and in good condition. The most economical and reliable way to do that is with the good old GM Delco alternator sending DC direct to the battery bank. That can be done with as little as 6 horse power, preferably a heavy duty water cooled diesel engine, but any kind of engine will work. Longevity comes into play from there on out.

I produce 45-50 amps DC with a 6 HP diesel turning a GM alt via a serpentine automotive belt, and it does that for 5 hours on less than a gallon of fuel.

There is no generator made at any price that can beat that. I've had the same alt running since 99' and it finally died couple of days ago. I currently had no rebuild kit or backup on hand, and then I realized I had one in an my old Scout with the engine out of it. Went and found it- swapped out the v-belt pulley for the newer serpentine pulley and was back charging in about 30 minutes... :mrgreen:

I have a complete brand new wood gasser rig sitting here that was made in China. It will run up to 10hp, depending on the quality of the wood fuel. It comes complete with a stove top range, as the Chinese use this for burning straw or whatever bio fuels they have on hand to run the cook range in the house.

I've been wanting to build one of these for years, but it looks like our global trade relationships have enabled me to move ahead without the labor... :Fire: :drinks:

[carpetman]

Pat Marlin---What is the difference in a wood chip and a wood block? Is there a dimension where a chip is considered a block??? I don't ask this to be funny and find your alternative fuel posts interesting. I'm guessing that the wood is burned to somehow make fuel and don't know what the difference in burning a block vs a chip would be.

[scrapcan]

Carpetman,

I think what Pat has to do is gas off the alcohol (methanol) from the wood. If your wood chips are to small they will burn instead of coke and the gas product has too many impurities(carbon/soot) to burn well in an internal combustion engine. Pat is driving off the hydrocarbons from the wood and not actually burning it as one would normally do. A side product in the producer plant is good quality charcoal if the feed stock is right.

Pat,

Can you post some pictures and descriptions of the producer plant? I have also had an intense interset in may of the same technologies/techniques as you have posted about. I have some pictures and plans form WWII era german producer plants mounted on cars and farm tractors. Pretty interesting ingenuity/engineering to solve a problem, We could sure learn a bit form history if we were of a mindset to do so (look at our current emphasis on coal liquifaction/gassification, it too is pretty old technology).

As a side note we have horses and we bed on wood shavings/sawdust/bark strippings. I had always wondered if a person could gassify the manure wood mixture. I have seen several systems where they ferment and then distill the alcohol and burn as a liquid fuel, It was pretty smelly and also messy.

Also pretty interesting about your alternator setup. Are you still running the import diesel on it? I saw an interesting switch out of a small diesel driven refer motor refit to an alternator. It is a low speed torque house little thing and is very good on fuel. I have been trying to find a refer unit to play with, but have not found the right wrecking yard.

Pretty cool that you posted this here, thanks.

Jeremy

[PatMarlin]

Ray,

The problem of fuel wood preparation for gasification projects is a universal problem and the easiest option is to use chipped wood. Many projects using chipped wood have failed even though the gasification equipment is considered "state of the art".

Chippers using rotary bladed drums or rotating plates with blades produce a fine chip, perfect for combustion but not suitable for gasification. In gasification the fine chip breaks down too quickly and fills the interstitial space between the particles preventing inflow of air and the outflow of gas.

Screw auger chippers provide the best chip size./

Here is a note from an expert, more than we need to know right now:

1> The thermal mass (chunk that is not burning under the surface of the
burning area), does in fact negate the chunk's burn area from reaching
"thermal reduction temperatures" capable of PAH and tar reduction.

2> Item 1 would then dictate that all mass intensive sizing of fuel, would
then follow this same pattern until such point that the thermal mass has
reached "thermal equilibrium" with respect to chunk size vs. temperature (at
some point the entire chunk becomes a glowing "coal") this I assume would be
that equal area, and in fact at this point, and only this point, can the
balance of this chunk of fuel become "thermally reduced into elemental gases
and compounds".

3) With items 1 & 2 being what they are, there is a direct correlation to
not only tuyere to throat to reduction size, BUT also fuel chunk size, to
tuyere, to throat, to reduction size.....

4) With all the above said, the bigger the bits of fuel are, the larger the
gasifier needs to be.... (and here you thought I was onto something :)

With all the above, I will say this, Fuel size is a CRITICAL portion of
proper gasifier operation, and little to no tars, PAH, NOx, etc.

Jeremy...
Here's a forum I belong to. A lot of energy projects going on over there. One is a genuine Mother Earth News wood fired truck a moderator built from the MEN plans.

The other interesting thing is the Woodmizer sawmill company's Bio Mizer, that they are just now sending out for test market to some of our members.

Interesting addition to the alt energy mix.

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?board=50.0

http://www.biomizer.com/


Here's pics of when I first installed our system:

http://www.westcoastminisplitter.com/Solar.html

THe Yanmar 6hp diesel pictured was air cooled and worked hard for about 7 years, but the problem with air cooled is they have to run @3600 rpm. The engine I have now is a water cooled, chinese made, german designed single cyl, large flywheel diesel that runs about 1500rpm. I also have 4 new Lister 6/1 engines here, that I will be using in systems. You can also generate your home hot water with these engines, or plumb them into hydronic heating systems.

Unfortunately, our dear EPA has banned all of these efficient, bio diesel burning heavy duty engines for import.

This is a pic of the Chinese gasser. It should run a small diesel or gas engine with no problem with the right fuel and filtering. In fact it is being done now...

[montana_charlie]

Carpetman,
Everybody knows a 'chip' is the offspring of the 'old block'...

[crabo]

So, what size "block" do you want? I have a friend that sells chippers and I could see if they have anything that might work.

Crabo

[carpetman]

All this technical stuff and my simple stove has me confused. My artificial log stove is gas operated. I understand that. I even know how the gas gets there as I plumbed it in. I also know there is no electricity to it and it has no battery. It does have a pilot light. But what I dont understand is what am I switching to get it to come on? It has a switch and I mentioned no electricity---yet the switch turns it off and on???? I did hear the pilot light generates 75 millivolts. If that is true and is what I am switching,why are they using a big honker of a switch instead of a small microswitch? But back to Pat Marlins problem. A chip is off the ol block as Mt Gianni said---so why cant you glue those chips up to form a block---even sawdust is glued up to make plywood and fireplace logs? And here he has been shipping it all off for fluxing sticks.

[crowbuster]

Wow Pat,

Great links and some real good reading, I'll have to go back and read some more as one can never be to self sufficient. Thanks for the info.

C.B.

[PatMarlin]

Here are examples...

One is to fine, the other is just right. Looks like little cord woods.. :mrgreen:

Even chunkier will work.

[PatMarlin]

Also good...

[scrapcan]

Pat,

Thanks for the links. More reading in my future. Keep us up on your systems and succesess or failure.

Are you using the delco alternators due to their one wire self excitation? I wondered how some of the new small permanent magnet alternators would work? A person may be able to drive more than one of them by the same belt. An uncle showed me a 50 amp from a small foreign care that was about 4 inches in diameter and would run in either direction equally well.

Anyway thanks for the food for the brain.

[PatMarlin]

How Gas Is Made

from:
http://www.fluidynenz.250x.com/

*

Beginning with a 'start-up' charge of charcoal in the combustion space of the hearth and air dry wood fuel piled on top, gasification proceeds as follows:

Along with the restricted supply of primary air admitted laterally into the charcoal bed, through 8 nozzles, a momentary flame enters to ignite the charcoal and within one minute, combustion is established.

Heat radiating upward from the combustion zone, drives moisture from the wood fuel and as charcoal is consumed beneath, the dried wood sinks closer to the source of heat. At this point, the higher temperature promotes the distillation of volatile substances from the wood which then carbonises to charcoal. In the lower levels of this carbonisation zone some of the volatile substances may ignite, increasing the temperature further and at about 600°C the charcoal ignites, producing a much more rapid temperature rise.

Much heat is produced by the process at this level when oxygen in the air admitted to the combustion zone, contacts and reacts with the incandescent charcoal surfaces to produce carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide diffuses back into the gas-filled spaces between the charcoal pieces where it oxidises to form carbon dioxide. This reaction all takes place in the oxidation zone.

As the amount of carbon dioxide in the gas spaces builds up, there is a corresponding reduction in the amount of free oxygen available in the gas spaces and concentrations of both these gases will approach constant levels. At this point in the system, the carbon monoxide concentration reaches a constant low level which is maintained.

Simultaneously, steam also contacts and reacts with the incandescent charcoal surfaces to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A little carbon dioxide may be produced. The additional carbon monoxide and the hydrogen diffuse back into the gas spaces where they are oxidised to form carbon dioxide and steam respectively. The net effect of the steam reaction is to supplement the carbon-oxygen reaction.Provided it is not excessive, the presence of steam confers the same result as an increase in the available oxygen. (Air dried wood waste and crop residues generate enough steam internally by chemical breakdown to promote the benefits of the steam reaction. Additional moisture can only be detrimental).

As the reactions continue, the amount of oxygen available for combustion decreases until eventually the amount of heat produced at this level in the system balances the amount of heat produced needed to run it. Here the flame temperature reaches its maximum and the amount of oxygen remaining is very small. This is the throat of the hearth and is where residual tar is cracked.

Much heat is consumed by the process below this level which is referred to as the reduction zone. After the maximum flame temperature has been reached and practically all the oxygen consumed, the temperature in the system begins to fall because less heat is being produced than is required to run it. At this stage, the carbon dioxide and steam in the gas spaces penetrates to and reacts with the hot charcoal surfaces to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen, drawing heat from the charcoal bed in the course of the reactions. As the system temperature continues to decrease, the rates of these reactions also decrease. until when the temperature falls sufficiently or when the charcoal supply is exhausted, the gasification process stops.

Except for the wood fuel drying phase, the other gasification processes described occur within the reaction vessel which we call the 'hearth module' and because of the high temperature, oxidising and reducing atmospheres which must be developed and sustained within it, the hearth module incorporates special refractory materials, surface treatment and thermal insulating materials, selectively placed to withstand the rigours of the main gasification processes.

The Gas. The product gas leaves the gasifier hot, dirty and moist to undergo the degree of cleaning, cooling and drying appropriate to the end-use intended for it. Wood derived producer gas from the Pacific Class gasifier is comprised as follows:

Combustible fuel gases

20% carbon monoxide

19% hydrogen

1% methane

0.1% ethylene

Non combustible gases
9% carbon dioxide

51% nitrogen


For practical purposes the gas is given an average calorific value of 5.03MJ/Cu.m (135 BTU/Cu.ft). Calorific value is subject to wide variations due to the moisture content of the fuel, and its correct size preparation.

Remember:
The drier the fuel, better the gas.

*
Correct fuel preparation, higher operating efficiencies.