by Bob Leverett
A gasifyer is used to heat wood or other organic matter to a temperature high enough to liberate the volatile elements inside. Once released the gasses can either be burnt for heat or combusted in an engine to create power. The simplest element of the gasifier is that is a canister that is insulated to keep in the heat.
The container has within it a bed of burning fuel. The bed of fuel is forced to burn under controlled conditions, by limiting the amount of air, and begins the gas production.
Being self contained has many advantages.
This small controlled fire is precisely what is needed to allow the gasses to be liberated uniformly. This heat is used to dry and heat up the fuel stock, so that when it falls into the fire grate, it will promptly burn. Ideally the fire should reach approximately 1200 degrees F. The top of the cylinder has a tube that allows the combustion gasses to escape. They are then cooled, to make the gas denser, and filtered particularly if they are to be burnt in an engine.
The gasifier then is like a small power station, self contained, but still transportable if needed. A four cylinder engine needs an oil barrel sized gas producer, but if the fuel is a waste product, the gas is just as good.
Any combination of chipped wood and or branches, rice or maize husks, shells, pits, animal dung, in reality any waste natural material, may be used. Even quick growing willow might be planted as a fuel harvest.
Could this be a novel source of fuel? Commercial farming needs to pay out cash disposing of huge amounts of waste to landfill. The gasifyer residue, or char, is an excellent soil conditioner, making it a very green alternative.
My specific interest is in reducing the expense of home energy production or yet off grid living. The end result with home gasification is a clean burning fuel with little pollution. An additional advantage.
1 gallon of gasoline is said by many to be equal to 20lbs of dry chipped wood. A gasifier of appropriate size will provide all the gas to run a selected engine, the bigger the gasifier the bigger the engine. A gasifier does not necessarily need any external power nevertheless this will help to start the machine, someone will still have to fuel the machine. With an internal combustion engine the induction will pull air through the hearth creating a self sustaining sequence.
A gasoline engined generator plus a gasifer and a fuel supply makes an ideal alternate energy source.
About the Author:
This Technology is over Two Hundred Years old, but is just as relevant now when the planet needs a new fuel source. Find out now how heat and electricity can be produced with the latest generation of gasifiers. Find out more information at The Gasifyer.Com.
