screw diesel or gas, run it on firewood

[betterthanstock]

I wonder if it will run without sparkplugs, or do we need to replace injectors with sparkplugs? What about plumbing that wood burner ahead of the turbo for some free energy?



Ha, it needs some engineering... . Enjoy.





YouTube - Wood gas car Start



YouTube - Werner's Chevrolet powered by wood gas



On further investigating, it appears it can be made to run with the diesel, just as you would run propane injection (it's high octane, so it shouldn't knock).

So you would just idle the diesel, and use a hand throttle to ingest wood gas (like the EGR on the 08), and when you need more power, step on the regular throttle. It may even work with cruise control.



60 mpg and a wheelbarrow of firewood?

 

[rbattelle]

Am I understanding this correctly? These engines are ordinary spark ignition engines running on gas generated by smoldering wood?

Ryan

 

[betterthanstock]

Am I understanding this correctly? These engines are ordinary spark ignition engines running on gas generated by smoldering wood?



Ryan

Well he also runs what appears to be a diesel tractor:

And there is an intercooler up in front of the van, that cools and condenses some of the bad stuff (creosote). I don't know how often you need to clean it.



YouTube - Wood gas tractor



Notice in the tractor video how when he adds wood, and opens the lid, the gas is so nasty that he lights a matchstick and throws it in to burn off the CO and methane and whatever other gasses are in there.



Like I said, it needs some more engineering. The technology is WWII era.

 

[betterthanstock]

This one is even better, it's an unmodified diesel running on the wood fumes. It's in Thailand.



YouTube - direct gasifier diesel engine

 

[surfbeetle]

Back in WW II, the Germans had vw bugs that could run on coal and firewood.

 

[Tinman]

The process is called wood gasification. You can by commerically available home boiler furnaces that use this process. Very cool. Very efficient. In my dream/ultimate/off-grid home, I'd use solar for radiant heat/hot water with one of these furnaces plumped in-line as a back up.