Off grid steam powered generator

[Squaredy]

Very interesting ......  generating electricity from waste wood.  Did anyone get anywhere with this? 

 

Must be a lot of people out there wondering about generating their own electricity these days...

[topchippyles]

27 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Very interesting ......  generating electricity from waste wood.  Did anyone get anywhere with this? 

 

Must be a lot of people out there wondering about generating their own electricity these days...

Anyone with a small stream or river close by should look at the hydro electric turbines.

Edited March 10, 2022 by topchippyles

[tcfengineering]

When I get time this summer I am going to try and make a woodgas boiler so I can run a genny from it. I will make the first one from scrap, but if I can get it to work, I am going to make a good one from Stainless and make it as a combined heat and power unit so I can heat the house and make electric. I will put a thread up when I do it. I am going to base it off these plans as he seems to have worked out a lot of the problems :

 

Wood Gasifier Builder Set

WWW.WOODGASIFIERPLANS.COM

---

The world's most popular wood gas book + video + 2D flat CAD files. Download today. Bonus 1: Engine conversion, Bonus 2:...

 

[Woodworks]

Might be of interest 

Drive On Wood!

FORUM.DRIVEONWOOD.COM

---

Woodgas Power.

 

[tcfengineering]

Yes I have been on there a lot trying to read up on it. If I can make it work, I would like to convert an old pickup also, just for fun.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, tcfengineering said:

Yes I have been on there a lot trying to read up on it. If I can make it work, I would like to convert an old pickup also, just for fun.

Good luck with that. Modern engines are intolerant of dirty fuel and people don't expect to have to take the head off (easy with an old side valve engine) and scrape off the tar deposits every thousand miles. It did look like a group in California were getting close to producing a clean offgas of CO and H2 but even they went quiet, as have the earlier posters on this thread.

 

PC20 Power Cube - ALL Power Labs

WWW.ALLPOWERLABS.COM

---

The Power Cube PC20 is a sensible solution to the critical global need for low-carbon energy, using agricultural and...

 

It would be interesting to see a hierarchy of heat to motive power devices to compare comparative performance.

 

I'll start with the proposition that steam turbines don't compete under about 600hp.

 

An eccentric but prolific self taught engineer in Ireland is posting a series of his Heath Robinson but serious attempts to generate dry steam from wood and power a cylinder for a small railway engine,

 

 

 

[trigger_andy]

A local sawmill to me cleared out their hardwood drying shed to install woodgas generators. They run 3 Chevy V8 based engines at a time and have one in reserve. Very little maintenance from what they told me when I toured the set-up. They chip and fill huge hoppers and power the whole mill whilst making a tidy profit off of it as well,

[difflock]

1 hour ago, trigger_andy said:

A local sawmill to me cleared out their hardwood drying shed to install woodgas generators. They run 3 Chevy V8 based engines at a time and have one in reserve. Very little maintenance from what they told me when I toured the set-up. They chip and fill huge hoppers and power the whole mill whilst making a tidy profit off of it as well,

What do the 3 engines drive, each couple to a particular machine?, all driving a common line shaft?(hows that for "back to the future technology"?)or do some/all of them drive 3Ph generators?

More details please.

mth

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, trigger_andy said:

A local sawmill to me cleared out their hardwood drying shed to install woodgas generators. They run 3 Chevy V8 based engines at a time and have one in reserve. Very little maintenance from what they told me when I toured the set-up. They chip and fill huge hoppers and power the whole mill whilst making a tidy profit off of it as well,

Things are bound to have come on in the gasification field over the last 80 years especially with modern control electronics

 

The cost advantage must be considerable now.

 

Any more details available?

[trigger_andy]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

What do the 3 engines drive, each couple to a particular machine?, all driving a common line shaft?(hows that for "back to the future technology"?)or do some/all of them drive 3Ph generators?

More details please.

mth

I really cant remember, it was in 2020 when I was there,  I was more interested in the Chevys and what kinda carb they where running.  They where not called Chevy V8's, but thats what the cores where then re-branded. As far as I can remember they each had their own generator bolted into the Crank. Output was monitored in a small control room. I thought I had some pics but all I have is the big old Ash Slabs I got for near on firewood prices as they where clearing everything out to expand the electricity generation expansion. They had huge piles of hardwood logs that the Millers had refused to mill for whatever reason, going back decades, all found a use in the chipper.