Caustic Soda Steam Engine

Anybody with info on Soda engines.

Looking to use the waste heat from a gasifier to dry and recharge the caustic soda.

Permalink Reply by Shane Gorter on May 8, 2010 at 2:28am: Thank you for the article I found it very interesting. What this system appears to do from my perspective is form a heat exchanger and battery effect. The article states that the amount of coal required to boil down the caustic soda is greater than the amount of energy gained from boiling the water for steam. The heat exchange value is at least partially negated by the back pressure the caustic soda system creates. This paper was written in the 1880s before the lead acid battery and electric motor was commercially viable. There are much more efficient methods to store energy than caustic soda, however, if this is an interst of yours I would recommend reading "The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen by P Litherland Teed, 1919" :

http://books.google.com/books?id=iiFDAAAAIAAJ&dq=the%20chemistr...

You would be amazed at how much heat energy and hydrogen is released when a dilute solution of caustic soda and aluminium is combined.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Renewablejohn on May 11, 2010 at 1:52am: Shane

I do not intend to use coal to boil down the caustic soda but the waste heat from the gasifier or thermal solar both of which are sources of free heat.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shane Gorter on May 12, 2010 at 6:49am: Hey John, I wasn't assuming you were going to use coal, if you use biomass or even other fuel sources you will end up with the same energy results. I was just saying that using caustic soda to store the energy from the waste heat wouldn't be a very efficient method of energy storage. I would suggest using as much of that waste heat to run counter flow back into your gasifier through the air intake and/or using the heat to pre-process your fuel driving off moisture all of which can greatly increase the efficiency of your gasifier. Your net gain of energy would be much higher from what I was reading in that article.
If your goal is to create steam for co-generation I would skip the step of the lye and just create steam from the waste heat or if your goal is energy storage you would be able to get much higher energy conversion rate from converting woodgas to electricity via generator and storing that in a battery than using the lye and a modified steam engine. I would love to check out a working Soda Engine if you actually build one and I don't want to discourage your research, I was just giving you my point of view and perspective from reading your article.

Renewablejohn said:
Shane

I do not intend to use coal to boil down the caustic soda but the waste heat from the gasifier or thermal solar both of which are sources of free heat.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Renewablejohn on May 13, 2010 at 1:01am: Shane

The Soda engine will be used as a condenser for a traditional steam engine similar to that in my avatar; ▶ Reply to This