Victory Gasworks- Gasifiers and Wood Gasification

Adam

Fluidyne Gasifier Build

Note: This post chronicles my journey into gasification, and the thoughts, insights and struggles from the perspective of someone who has never held a torch in his hand. If I am successful at this - trust me, you can be too.

Hello everyone,

I'm brand new to the community. I've been researching gasification for about 6 months now. Unfortunately, I don't have any fabrication experience or tools, but I do have a friend who does (and owes me BIGTIME). My goals are to build a gasifier to simply power a small engine to run a generator or charge a battery bank. I'm thinking supplemental or emergency electrical power at this point (definitely heat transfer later). I was going to start with the FEMA plans. Woody seems sweeEEeet though. UGH, where to start!? I'm curious to hear from others who are using gasifiers for ICE power generation and what your setup and story is.

Any advice, guidance, words of wisdom? Best places for materials?

Thanks!
-A

Tags: newbie

Comment

You need to be a member of Victory Gasworks- Gasifiers and Wood Gasification to add comments!

Join Victory Gasworks- Gasifiers and Wood Gasification

Daniel Comment by Daniel on June 2, 2009 at 10:26pm
Cyclone I recommend you use the CycloneSpreadsheetAC080120.xls I posted it on

http://victorygasworks.ning.com/group/thefabshop/forum/topics/cyclone-filter-design

some time ago. I made mine out of 16 gauge, the lip and top out of 10 gauge ….. beat my cone into submission with a hammer and a torch...it was a real bitch probably spent 6 hours on the cone alone too stubborn to admit defeat (I do not have a roller) could have took it to a sheet metal shop and had it done in about ten minutes for little of nothing. The upper part of the cyclone you can just pull it together with a couple of ratchet straps and clamps and weld it

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your request. There is some more detailed photos in my gallery.
Adam Comment by Adam on May 27, 2009 at 6:36am
Been a slow week. Spent most of the weekend hacking up a 55 year old elm and maple that were looming over my house after the ice storm last winter. Good news is that now I'll be set for a couple of years at least. Still have lots to cut and split.

Hoping to get the filter section started soon - although I'm still wondering how I'm going to roll the cyclone cone.
-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 17, 2009 at 11:53am
1ST STARTUP SUCCESS!!!

On a very windy day, I managed to get some pretty good results - albeit watery-tar is EVERYWHERE. Onto the filter section.

-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 11, 2009 at 6:55am
- Ejector tests proved to be successful. There is a ton of air being drawn through the tuyeres.
- Put the feet on my unit so that the grate adjustment rod can be lowered.
- I looked for some high-temp silicone sealant but it seems like it's all rated at around 400-degrees Fahrenheit. That seems to weak to me. There is fireplace mortar, but that doesn't seem right either. After the ejector tests, things seem pretty air tight. It looks like I might not need to do much sealing at all. Not sure what type of thread sealant would be best.

Gearing up for my first test fire using a charcoal bed and a small amount of wood.
-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 9, 2009 at 3:57pm
EJECTOR DONE!!

Alterations:
- Put external air mix control before the compressed air input. Otherwise air/gas mix will blow out.
- Used 1/16" hole in the 1/4" pipe. Too hard to find anything smaller that drills through metal, and 1/16 is fine.


-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 8, 2009 at 2:18pm
Ejector time!!


-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 7, 2009 at 6:05pm
HOPPER DONE

-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 6, 2009 at 7:06pm
HEARTH IS DONE!!!


TO DO:
- Drill hopper flange holes
- Build ejector
- FIRE IT UP!!!

-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 5, 2009 at 1:21pm
Incidentally, I've decided to use the 'Dasifier' ejector port option. I like this option because it enables me to do the following:

- Use a small 12V compressor for battery-powered startups. I'll likely go with the following:
QMaxx Air Compressor - Amazon Link
- Get a very hot concentrated flame capable of using in a small forge if I would like to do some backyard metal casting
- It's fairly simple to construct. See the examples below.
Dasifier Page - Woodgas.com
Example ejector

The only caveats are that I will be using a 1/4" cross pipe (which has close to a 1/2 outer diameter, since I have only a 1/2 metal drill bit). I will use a 1" globe valve to control outside air mix, and I will be controlling the compressor air input with a small regulator. The end will be flanged from 1 1/2" to 1" using a pipe fitting reducer at the output.

-A
Adam Comment by Adam on May 4, 2009 at 12:01pm
The hearth/hopper section is almost there. Ended up grinding out the hopper flange, cutting and rewelding. Used about 200 tack welds from underneath all the way around to prevent blow holes. Seems sturdy - albeit about 6-inches shorter. The adjustable inner-tube grate is done. That ended up pretty nice actually. The throat tube is resting on three equidistant steel rods. Hopefully this will be good.

TO DO:
- Build Ejector Port
- Drill flange holes
- Start filters

Almost ready for my first test fire-up. Pics to follow as soon as I get the ejector input port welded.
-A

© 2010   Created by ben.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service