Dear Luke
You raise a lot of good points.
On the one hand, you can save a lot of money by running a rig on woodgas. On
the other hand, it takes a lot of time to get the fuel, prepare it, and operate
the system. Whether or not wood gassing is appropriate for you is a decision
that only you can make. It is the same for heating ones house with wood...
makes sense for some, but not for others.
Some people can justify a $0 per hour labour cost when working on wood gas, in
that it is a fun and exercise thing, and they can get rid of surplus trash wood
from their place. Others may have to buy in wood, and may value their "spare
time" at say $20 per hour, they may have limited space, limited construction
skills and tools, limited storage space, etc. It is more difficult for these
latter folk to justify "the cost and bother" associated with wood gas systems.
Each cord of wood you gasify can displace about $470 worth of gasoline, when
gas is $US 4 per US Gallon. Each of us has to decide if wood gassing is worth
the fun, or the bother, in our own specific situation.
Best wishes,
Kevin
----- Original Message -----
From: Luke Gardner
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Wood Chip classificaton
Hello gents,
before making money got back in the way of gassing, I too made this
benchmark.
I built a few different rolling barrel shaped screens and made some pressure
drop measurements with a mock hearth, knowing that the real thing in operation
would be somewhat different. ending up with several different sized chips with
different pressure drops per size. It seemed to me that I came to the
conclusion that since they are all about the same thickness that the “x” and
“y” measure didn’t seem to make any real change in test or actual use. the
only important revalation I remember is to screen to get the super fines out
and not much changes after that.
I’m totally with you Pete, If I can’t use wood chips, I’m done, call me lazy
that’s fine. But I still wonder how much energy a guy would spend in december
here in the pacific northwest sifting the fines out and drying the rest to an
accepable level vs the energy made from those now sifted and dry chips.
It seems like you have to tumble those things to get them to dry out in a
confined space, as they can sit wet forever in an open bucket and will never
dry out. The other option is spread them out thin over acerage on a nice day,
and then gather them back up.
either way it kinda takes the thrill out of gassing.
I will take it one step further, than you Pete, if I can’t shovel wet/green
chips into a hopper and make the thing work, then I’m checking out. I plan on
working on drying them on delivery from the hopper to the hearth as they flow
between the two. Next time I have some “free time”.
I suppose a guy could do a preliminary energy calculation just for fun.
Energy required to bring “x”pounds of soaked and green wood chips at 60%
water down to one pound of 20% water wood chips. Vs the energy that can be
made from that pound of dried wood chips.
Note,, vent the evaporated wood moisture outside, or everything in your shop
will get wet and rust in a very quick manner.
Roger that,,,, “along way to go”
Fuel prep sucks.
Luke
From: Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 4:09 PM
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Wood Chip classificaton
Dear Pete
An "ideal situation" would be if you had a constant flow rate of air, which
you then flowed through such chips screened to different sizes. Then you could
measure the pressure drop across a length of the bed. This would tell you just
how much pressure drop various sizes of chips would give you. Then you could
decide how small a chip size you could consider using.
"Too small a chip" will likely give tar, unless the gasifier is specifically
designed to handle such fine chip sizes. However, this is a lesser concern for
gasifiers producing "Heating Grade Gas."
Best wishes,
Kevin
----- Original Message -----
From: Pete & Sheri
To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Wood Chip classificaton
Hi, Kevin.
Thanks for the input. I had better go out and check the sizes of my
screens.
I realize that the APA gauge is focused on thin chips for pulping. But
you folks have been telling me that I need thicker chips (in relation to the
length and height). I have actually been using a 3 screen system, with a
smaller screen (1/4 X ¼) to get the dust out before I even think of saving
anything.
But even with the 1X1 screen, I could get chips that are only 1/32 thick,
and therefore, very light in weight.
I am learning that those chips may be okay in some circumstances, but I
want to be able to see the difference for myself.
I still have a long way to go.
Pete Stanaitis
----------------
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 2:47 PM
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Wood Chip classificaton
Dear Pete
I would suggest that a simpler, and better way to evaluate wood chips is to
use a "Two Screen System." For example, if you used square mesh screen with
1/2"x1/2", and 1"x1" openings, you would end up with 3 products:
1: +1"
2: -1", + 1/2"
3: -1/2"
The APA Gage is intended for a different purpose... to give a reflection of
wood fibre length, because that is what is important to Pulp Mills. For
gasifier applications, uniformity of size, and the percentage of void space is
what is important. The "two screen system" should give screened chips from
"between the screen decks" that are much more uniform, and having much better
gas flow characteristics.
Best wishes,
Kevin
----- Original Message -----
From: Pete & Sheri
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:37 PM
Subject: [Gasification] Wood Chip classificaton
My only interest for gasifier fuel is wood chips. If I cant understand
them and make them work well, I wont be using a gasifier at all.
I know this may be old news to many of you, but I recently found a couple
of ways to characterize wood chips. Although there are plenty of good systems
out there the best ones are way to complex and expensive for me.
So, I am using a simple gauge from the APA (American Pulpwood
Association.
My simple page to explain the process is at:
http://www.spaco.org/Woodgas/WoodChipMeasurement.htm
It has links to a couple of in-depth sources for understanding wood
chips, too.
Pete Stanaitis
----------------
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