# Wood gas Powered Car



## derbygreg (Feb 9, 2008)

Just found these on www.youtube.com   Have not checked into it a lot, but sure looks interesting.

http://vedbil.se/indexe.shtml

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J4n_OaCIQ-s

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kG8iR5DRLpw

These guys took a car and somehow formulated it to run on wood gas (smoke I assume)

Who's Game?


----------



## jebatty (Feb 9, 2008)

It's my plan to do it, but to run a generator. Hate to be tied to gasoline when the peak oil bust arrives. I have the FEMA book on this, which I understand may no longer may be available in print. For some more info, see
http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15760

I found the FEMA book here, follow the links:
http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg08924.html


----------



## colebrookman (Feb 9, 2008)

Just about every issue of the Farm Show newspaper has someone converting a car or pick up to run on wood.  Many ideas on home made solar vehicles , even a sun powered tractor.  If you love to tinker this is a great paper.
www.farmshow.com


----------



## krooser (Nov 7, 2010)

Nothing new here...they did it in post-war Japan...


----------



## begreen (Nov 7, 2010)

And during WWII in Europe.

Here's a Yugo that runs (a small miracle in itself) on woodgas.
http://freeweb.deltha.hu/zastava.in.hu/wood-gas.htm


----------



## Dune (Nov 7, 2010)

And in Europe still.

And during the first world war, in fact gassification of coal was used for street gas in London in the 19th century. 


Here is a link to an existing gassifier which can be readily used for residential Heat and Power Generation (co-gen).

http://victorygasifier.com/  There are others available as well.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 7, 2010)

A local Ag college has an experimental downdraft generation unit running and plans to build a 2 megawatt version that will run off it's agricultual waste and maybe eventually town garbage as a source of revenue.  

http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/4001/a-new-twist-on-gasification/

Matt


----------



## pybyr (Nov 7, 2010)

Lots of interesting possibilities- such as -

http://www.gekgasifier.com/


----------



## Seasoned Oak (Nov 7, 2010)

Saw a great piece probably on the green channel or the science channel about two guys who had a wood gasifier on back of their pickup truck and after some tinkering got the engine to run on it ,then proceeded to drive across London on 1 load of wood. Did not say how many miles to the cord the were getting though.


----------



## Dune (Nov 7, 2010)

I've mentioned this here before, but for new readers; My father ran his fishing boat (comercial) on wood during WWII in Norway. They would cut 30 bushels of 3" cubes of wood and make a fishing trip. 
3 inches is the maximum thickness for effective pyrolysis.


----------



## benjamin (Nov 8, 2010)

Has anyone found any info on a charcoal fueled gasifier? It seems like it would eliminate most of the drawbacks to the technology (tar related) for automotive use. Not as simple as the flux capacitor, but it would work fine with a boiler making the charcoal all winter.


----------



## Wallyworld (Nov 8, 2010)

Dune said:
			
		

> I've mentioned this here before, but for new readers; My father ran his fishing boat (comercial) on wood during WWII in Norway. They would cut 30 bushels of 3" cubes of wood and make a fishing trip.
> 3 inches is the maximum thickness for effective pyrolysis.


That is cool, must have been quite a sight to see


----------



## Dune (Nov 8, 2010)

benjamin said:
			
		

> Has anyone found any info on a charcoal fueled gasifier? It seems like it would eliminate most of the drawbacks to the technology (tar related) for automotive use. Not as simple as the flux capacitor, but it would work fine with a boiler making the charcoal all winter.



If I remember correctly, the oldest books I read on wood gassification mentioned charcoal. 

The thing is though, imagine if you were to heat your home with a go-generation system, rather than just a boiler. Generate electricity with wood, heat your home with the waste heat of the generator's water cooled engine. Drive an electric car, fueled indirectly by wood. Much more convient than a wood gas car.


----------



## Seasoned Oak (Nov 8, 2010)

Dune said:
			
		

> benjamin said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 I saw a piece on one of the home renovation shows where a homeowner installed a new gas furnace which also had the ability to generate electricity as well,a combination gas fired electric generator and gas fired hot water heat from the same appliance. Same principal could be applied to any fuel source i would imagine.


----------



## begreen (Nov 8, 2010)

Dune said:
			
		

> benjamin said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I don't understand. Once the wood is charcoal, I thought it basically was through as a wood gas fuel because it only emits CO2 at that stage. It will still burn and give off heat, but not volatile gases.


----------



## Dune (Nov 8, 2010)

http://www.gasificationaustralia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=31

I lent out my old wood gas books years ago. I found this link.  Charcoal was a common fuel for automobiles during WWI. I can't remember the exact chemical process, but reduction involves CO2, which I imagine becomes CO, a flamable gas.


----------



## Dune (Nov 8, 2010)

trump said:
			
		

> Dune said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



A freind used to try to sell a similar system, which ran on heating oil or #2 fuel oil, essentialy the same. The device entailed a small diesel engine with a gen end. When the thermostat called for heat, the gen end would act as a starter motor, the diesel would run until it's waste heat satified the house then shut off. Used the same amount of fuel, gave "free" electricity. He found very few takers. Oil was just too cheap at the time. These units are still manufactured as far as I know.

The same  process could be used for wood fired co-gen, providing electricity and heat for the same amount of wood burned. 

Co-gen is fairly common in larger buildings. In Hyannis there are at least two hotels which run very large diesel generators to produce hot water. The electricity and hot water are produced for the same cost as heating the water only using conventional water heaters. This is possible since 70% of a diesel engines fuel is wasted as heat.


----------



## Seasoned Oak (Nov 8, 2010)

There are several new water heating alternatives out now. I need a de-humidifier in summer in my basement so my choices are a plain dehumidifier,or a dehumidifier that also doubles as an air conditioner, or one that does both of those and also heats your domestic hot water as well.
The local utility is giving big rebates for the third model so it must be an energy saver.


----------

