Gasifier = running a generator from wood smoke?

[pmer]

I ran across this video on youtube and never heard of the idea that you can power a engine from the exhaust of a wood stove. The guy in this video does a good job of explaining how it works. The wood burning part is inverted, he removes the heat from the smoke and what comes out the "chimney" is a clear burning gas (vapor?) that he feeds to a generator. He runs a skill saw off the generator powered by a wood stove.

https://youtu.be/a6e3CprVTi8

So what's going on here? LOL what kind of magic is this. I grew up in a house that had a woodstove in the basement and the chimney never blew up

[GhostHawk]

Wood and other things that burn often burn incompletely. Leaving some combustibles going up the chimney with the smoke.

The problem from my point of view is keeping enough flow of the right stuff to keep a generator running. Short bursts, sure. Longer periods it gets harder.

The good news is that a Methane digester turning kitchen garbage and yard waste into methane can help.

If it was me, and I was looking to power a generator long term I'd be looking at steam of one sort or another.

[farmbif]

there's a guy out near ashville built a place called turtle island or something like that that runs his pickup truck with a gassifier. they even showed it on that mountain man show

[Paper Puncher]

In WW II the Germans used a lot of wood gas vehicles due to fuel shortages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas
Definitely not a new technology.

[MrWolf]

there's a guy out near ashville built a place called turtle island or something like that that runs his pickup truck with a gassifier. they even showed it on that mountain man show

Eustace on Mountain Men ran his truck using a gassifier. Lot of videos out there. Believe they call it pyrolosis. There are also videos of using a similar chamber to reduce plastics to diesel fuel. There is a video of a guy on an island, with a very basic set-up, taking the plastic trash that washes up and converting to diesel which runs neighbors generators and such. Been watching those videos for awhile and plan on trying something this summer. To much going on now.

[pmer]

Does this process have any similarity to a whiskey still?

[Rapier]

Plastic to diesel sounds like a possible real “cure” for a major problem, plastics in land fills, in the water and scattered across the landscape.

[farmbif]

Eustace on Mountain Men ran his truck using a gassifier. Lot of videos out there. Believe they call it pyrolosis. There are also videos of using a similar chamber to reduce plastics to diesel fuel. There is a video of a guy on an island, with a very basic set-up, taking the plastic trash that washes up and converting to diesel which runs neighbors generators and such. Been watching those videos for awhile and plan on trying something this summer. To much going on now.

the guy on the island looks like he is enjoying a great life well lived, saw that video a while back

[hoodat]

As we're about to find out, one of the big problems in this world is the cost of getting the right stuff to the right place -- where it is needed.

You might create the coolest process for turning garbage into a valuable fuel, but you have to bring mountains of garbage to your processor; and that takes great quantities of valuable fuel. Can you say conundrum? jd

[Gator 45/70]

Does this process have any similarity to a whiskey still?

Plastic to diesel sounds like a possible real “cure” for a major problem, plastics in land fills, in the water and scattered across the landscape.

Pretty much like a still, Guy uses drift wood, It's more like a pressure cooker crammed and packed full of plastic waste.

[john.k]

One ready source of fuel oil is used tyres......tyres contain something like 20-30% of oil,which can be recovered by heating..........unfortunately ,a bad smell is also produced ,that has shut down near every oil recovery plant.

[Baltimoreed]

Had thoughts of a methane digester to run a stationary generator many years ago but never got beyond the research stage. Now I have a generac.

[MaryB]

A wood gassifier works by starving the fire of oxygen, really similar to producing charcoal

[dverna]

Most videos do not show the downside of gassifiers. Do what you turns your crank. I will stay with gas, diesel and propane.

https://peakprosperity.com/wood-gasi...f39b703174cf78

[gwpercle]

So how come we're not driving Pellet Powered Cars !

[country gent]

Several countries used vehicles that ran on the fumes from wood and or coal fires in WW 2. While ot can be done in the weather you need a generator going out to fire a burner or stoke it might be nasty. I also think there might be some "lead" time involved between when the burner is fired and the generator can be started.

[metricmonkeywrench]

They built a car on Monster Garage on Discovery that used the process and there was a good primer on how the system works if you can get past the over the top presentation style.

I first read about it years ago in a story of a family escaping the Nazi invasion of their country, the storyteller was a child at the time and remembered the adults looking for wood to power the bus/truck they were in.

[MT Gianni]

So how come we're not driving Pellet Powered Cars !

We feel like we need to travel over 20 MPH. Add to that many States requiring an inspection.

[Idz]

The biggest hurdle for commercialization is the mountain of government regulations, licenses, taxes, etc. Long ago FEMA published a brochure on how to build gasifiers to run generators in emergencies. But that was before the bureaucrats took total control.

[Armorer77]

Wood gas is a by product of making charcoal . Set up a 3.5 HP motor with an alternater to charge your batteries . The problem is removing the tar , this will freeze your valves solid if not cleaned before it cools .