Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
A pound of wood holds about 10,000 BTUs of heat.
A gallon of gas packs at least 120,000 BTUs.
The process isn't 100% efficient and the process appears to leave a good portion of energy behind as "active charcoal" waste.
I'm thinking they would need at least 20 pounds of wood to produce each gallon of gasoline.
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It would be helpful to use similar units when making BTU comparisons between wood and gasoline. A gallon of gasoline weighs roughly 6lbs, so according to your figures, it has twice the energy density of wood at 20,000 BTU per pound.
EDIT: from
How Stuff Works
Quote:
Propane: 21,500 BTU per pound
Butane: 21,200 BTU per pound
Gasoline: 17,500 BTU per pound
Coal: 10,000 BTU per pound
Wood: 7,000 BTU per pound
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