Wood chip burning vehicle? - Page 3 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

LUVMY02CREW · 02-18-2010, 09:55 AM

Some good info here...I'm gonna have to check into this some more. It would be nice to have an alternative vehicle to make the commute to and from work.

Off Topic, but, I've often thought about a steam vehicle after seeing a video of a steam powered motorcycle.

Ryland · 02-18-2010, 11:04 AM

There are a number of books out there if you look for them.
I've only seen one vehicle like this in person and that was about 15 years ago.

wagonman76 · 02-18-2010, 12:31 PM

Ive thought about this quite a bit every now and then. Wouldn't be practical for going downstate but would be nice for running around here. I burn wood for the house anyway and can get all the free 2x4 scraps I want from work.

Amazing it can be registered in California.

jmf · 02-18-2010, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

Do you have some details on your gasifier?

I experimented with different configurations of soup can sized gasifiers last summer for camp cooking. They used pencil sized twigs, and I was amazed at how much more efficient they were than building a campfire for cooking.

inside

what would you like to know about it. I was trying to use 2x4 scrap but it has a lot of tar. Hard wood is ideal.

fidalgoman · 02-18-2010, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christ

Any way to make the gas and store it to be used later? We have lots of trash/debris/clippings/etc. that get burned and nothing ever comes of it except smoke. It's terrible, really. I would love to be able to make something of it and save it for future use, if at all possible. If not, I guess a gas-making-thingy might be a good idea to make/store electricity anyway, eh?

You have to think of a gasifier as an enclosed system where the oxygen is limited and the heat restrained within the system which causes the wood/coal carbon to be released in a gaseous form. Though slightly inaccurate, think of it as not completely combusted, like and containing carbon monoxide. You add additional oxygen and an ignition source within the cylinder and the combustion cycle completes. Since the mixture is complex with water vapor, CO2, etc. I don't know if compressing the mixture is feasible. The gas produced though effective is not a purer fuel like say Propane.