During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood. Wood gas cars also known as producer gas cars are a not-so-elegant but surprisingly efficient and ecological alternative to their petrol gasoline cousins, whilst their range is comparable to that of electric cars. Rising fuel prices and global warming have caused renewed interest in this almost-forgotten technology: The first use of wood gasification dates back to s, when it was used as a forerunner of natural gas for street lighting and cooking.

In the s, German engineer Georges Imbert developed a wood gas generator for mobile use. The gases were cleaned and dried and then fed into the vehicle's combustion engine, which barely needs to be adapted. The Imbert generator was mass produced from on. At the end of the s, about 9, wood gas vehicles were in use, almost exclusively in Europe.

The technology became commonplace in many European countries during the Second World War, as a consequence of the rationing of fossil fuels. In Germany alone, aroundproducer gas vehicles were in operation by the end of the war. A network of some 3, "petrol stations" was set upwhere drivers could stock up on firewood. Not only private cars but also trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, ships and trains were equipped with a wood gasification unit. Some tanks were driven on wood gas, too, but for military use the Germans preferred the production of liquid synthetic fuels made out of wood or coal.

In when the technology had not yet reached the height of its popularitythere were about 73, producer gas vehicles in Sweden, 65, in France, 10, in Denmark, 9, in both Austria and Norway, and almost 8, in Switzerland. Finland had 43, "woodmobiles" inof which 30, were buses and trucks, 7, private vehicles, 4, tractors and boats. Woodmobiles also appeared in the US, Asia and, particularly, Australia, which had 72, vehicles running on woodgas source.

Altogether, more than one million producer gas vehicles were used during World War Two. After the war, with gasoline once again available, the technology fell into oblivion almost instantaneously. At the beginning of the s, the then West-Germany only had some 20, woodmobiles left. Rising fuel prices and global warming have resulted in renewed interest in firewood as a direct fuel. Inthe Swedish government set up a research programme to prepare for a fast transition to wood gas cars in case of a sudden oil shortage.

Sweden has no oil reserves, but it does have vast woodlands it can use for fuel. The goals of this research was to develop an improved, standardised installation that could be adapted for use in all kinds of vehicles. This investigation, supported by car manufacturer Volvo, led to a great deal of theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience with several road vehicles one seen above and tractors over a total distance of more thankilometres 62, miles.

The results are summarized in a FAO document fromwhich also discusses some experiments in other countries. A wood gas generator - which looks like a large water heater - can be placed on a trailer although this makes the vehicle difficult to parkin the boot trunk of a car although this uses up nearly all the luggage spaceor on a platform at the front or the back of the vehicle the most popular option in Europe.

In the case of an American pickup, the generator is placed in the truck bed. During WWII, some vehicles were equipped with a built-in generator, entirely hidden from view.

The fuel for a wood gas car consists of wood or wood chips see picture on the left. Charcoal can also be used, but this leads to a 50 percent loss in the available energy contained in the original biomass. On the other hand, charcoal contains more energy, so that the range of the car can be extended. In principle, any organic material can be used. During the Second World War, coal and peat were also used, but wood was the main fuel.

One of the more successful wood gas cars was built last year by Dutch John. While many recent producer gas vehicles seem to come straight out of Mad Max, the Dutchman's Volvo is equipped with a very modern-looking system made of stainless steel see the first picture and the two pictures below and then compare to this Volvothis BMWthis Audi or this Yugo.

I have objections to some woodmobiles. Often, the produced gas is as clean as the appearance of the construction". Dutch John strongly believes in wood gas generators, mainly for stationary uses such as heating, electricity generation or even the production of plastics.

The Volvo is meant to demonstrate the possibilities of the technology. Nevertheless, wood gas cars are only for idealists and for times of crisis. The "fuel tank" can contain 30 kilograms 66 pounds of wood, good for a range of kilometres 62 milescomparable to that of an electric car. If the back seat is loaded with sacks of wood, the range is extended to kilometres miles.

Again, this is comparable to the range of an electric car if the passenger space is sacrificed for a larger battery, as is the case with the Tesla Roadster or the electric Mini Cooper. The difference is, of course, that John has to stop regularly to grab a sack of wood from the back seat and refill the tank.

As is the case with other cars, the range of a wood gas car is also dependent on the vehicle itself. This is shown by the different cars that were converted by Vesa Mikkonen. The Fin places all his generators on a trailer. His most recently-converted car is a Lincoln Continental Mark V, a large, heavy American coupe. It consumes 50 kilograms pounds of wood every kilometres 62 miles and is thus considerably less efficient than John's Volvo. Mikkonen has also converted a Toyota Camry, a much more efficient car.

This vehicle only consumes 20 kilograms 44 pounds of wood over the same distance. However, the trailer is almost as large as the car itself.

The range of electric cars can be considerably improved by making them smaller and lighter. However, this is not an option with their wood gas cousins because of the weight and the volume of the machinery. The smaller cars from World War Two only had a range of 20 to 50 kilometres 12 to 31 milesin spite of their much lower speed and acceleration.

Enlarging the "fuel tank" is the only option to improve the range further except for reducing one's speed, of course, but that is another story. American Dave Nichols the man who shows the wood on one of the pictures above can load kilograms pounds of wood into the back of his Ford pickup truck.

This takes him kilometres miles far, a range that is comparable to a fossil fuel powered car. The merit of this is discussable, of course, as to do this Nichols has to stop regularly to refill the tank: According to Nichols, one pound of wood half a kilogram is sufficient to drive 1 mile 1.

The American has set up a company 21st Century Motor Works and plans to sell his technology on a larger scale. When he arrives home, he uses his truck to heat his house and generate electricity. His story has caught on in the US, and the reason can be summed up by his license plate: His compatriot, Joost Conijngrabbed this opportunity to take a two-month trip throughout Europe, without worrying about the proximity of the closest of gas stations which are not always easy to find in a country like Romania.

The locals gave him wood to continue his journey - with the supply stored on a trailer. Conijn not only used wood as a fuel, but also as a construction material for the car itself picture above - video here. For another trip with a wood gas car, see " Around Sweden with wood in the tank ". During the s, hydrogen was seen as the alternative fuel of the future. Then, biofuels and compressed air took over its mantle role, whilst today all the attention is focused on electric cars.

If this technology fails, too and we have expressed our doubts about it several timescan we go back to the wood gas car? Despite its industrial appearance, a wood gas car scores rather well from an ecological viewpoint when compared to other alternative fuels.

Wood gasification is slightly more effiicient than wood burning, as only 25 percent of the energy content of the fuel is lost. The energy consumption of a woodmobile is around 1. If the energy required to mine, transport and refine oil is also taken into account, however, then wood gas is at least as efficient as gasoline. And, of course, wood is a renewable fuel. The greatest advantage of producer gas vehicles is that an accessible and renewable fuel can be used directly without any previous treatment.

Converting biomass to a liquid fuel like ethanol or biodiesel can consume more energy and CO2 than the fuel delivers. In the case of a wood gas car, no further energy is used in producing or refining the fuel, except for the felling and cutting of the wood.

This means that a woodmobile is practically carbon neutral, especially when the felling and cutting is done by hand. Moreover, a wood gas car does not require a chemical battery, and this is an important advantage over an electric car. All too often, the embodied energy of the latter's enormous battery is forgotten. In fact, in the case of a producer gas vehicle, the wood behaves like a natural battery.

There is no need for high-tech recycling: A properly-operating wood gas generator also produces less air pollution than a gasoline or diesel powered car. Wood gasification is considerably cleaner than wood burning: An electric car has the potential to do better, but then the energy it uses should be generated by renewable sources, which is not a realistic scenario.

In spite of all these advantages, it takes just one look at a woodmobile to realize that it is anything but an ideal solution. The mobile gas factory takes up a lot of space and can easily weigh a few hundred kilograms - empty.

The size of the equipment is due to the fact that wood gas has a low energy content. The energetic value of of wood gas is around 5. Furthermore, the use of wood gas limits the output of the combustion engine, which means that the speed and acceleration of the converted car are cut.

Nitrogen does not contribute to the combustion, while coal monoxide is a slow burning gas. Because of this high nitrogen content, the engine receives less fuel, which leads to a 35 to 50 percent lower output. Because the gas burns slowly, a high number of revolutions is not possible. A producer gas vehicle is no sports car. Even though some smaller cars have been equipped with wood gas generators see for instance this Opel Kadettthe technology is better suited to a larger, heavier car with a powerful engine.

If not, engine output and range might not be sufficient. Even though the installation can be made smaller for a smaller vehicle, its size and weight do not decrease proportionately with the decreasing size and weight of the car. Some have built wood gas-powered motorcyclesbut their range is limited a motorcycle with sidecar does better, though. Of course, the weight and size of the mobile gas factory is less an issue with buses, trucks, trains or ships.

Another problem of wood gas cars is that they are not particularly user-friendly, although this has improved compared to the technology used in the Second World War.

See the second part of this pdf document page 17 and further for a description of what it was like to drive a wood gas car back then:.

Still, in spite of the improvements, even a modern woodmobile requires up to 10 minutes to get up to working temperature, so you cannot jump in your car and drive away immediately. Furthermore, before every refill, the ashes of the last gasification process have to be shovelled out. The forming of tar in the installation is less problematic than it was 70 years ago, but the filters still have to be cleaned regularly. And then there is the limited range of the vehicle.

All in all, it is a far cry from the familiar ease of use of a gasoline car.

Alternative Energy Stocks: Biofuels Archives

The large amount of deadly carbon monoxide produced calls for some precautions, too, since a leak in the piping is not impossible. If the machinery is placed in the trunk, the instalment of a CO-detector in the passenger compartment is by no means a luxury. Moreover, a wood gas car must not be parked in an enclosed space unless the gas is flared first picture above.

Of course, all the vehicles described above are built by amateur engineers. If we built cars especially designed to be powered by wood, and produce them in factories, chances are that the drawbacks would become somewhat less significant and the advantages would become even greater.

Such woodmobiles would also look more elegant. The Volkswagen Beetles that rolled off the assembly line during World War Two had the whole wood gasification mechanism built in sources: From the outside, the wood gas generator and the rest of the installation was invisible. Refilling was done through a hole in the bonnet hood.

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The same is true for this Mercedes-Benz, in which the installation is completely hidden in the trunk source. Unfortunately, wood gas shares an important disadvantage with other biofuels. Mass producing woodmobiles would not solve this. Quite the contrary, in fact: Indeed, the woodmobile caused severe deforestation in France during the Second World War source.

Just as with many other biofuels, the technology is not scalable. Yet, while biofuel-powered car is as user-friendly as a gasoline rival, wood gas has to be the most user-unfriendly alternative fuel that exists. This can be an advantage: If you need to preheat your car for 10 minutes, chances are you will decide not to use it to drive a few miles to pick up some groceries. A bicycle would do the job faster.

If you had to cut wood for three hours just to make a trip to the beach, you would probably decide to take the train. In any case, the woodmobile demonstrates again that the modern car is a product of fossil fuels. Whatever alternative fuel you believe in, none of them comes even close to the convenience of gasoline or diesel. If, one day, the availability of cheap oil comes to an end, the omnipresence of the automobile will be history. But the individual vehicle will never die.

Posted on January 18, at You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. If you attach the wood gas generator to the car, thats two sets of mechanisms that have to be maintained, the engine and the generator.

That will be difficult without parts, lubricants etc, provided by crude oil. Plus you have weight considerations, which will inhibit efficiency, and initial purchase and installation cost. Peronally, i wouldn't bother. Second, You discount Hemp oil as a resource for this type of propulsion system. Surely a more profitable and sustainable biomass resource is Hemp, which will provide a new yield every year as opposed to 25 years for trees to regrow.

Surely Hemp oil would remove the need for a converter to turn the wood gas into combustible gas. If you look at any civilisation making money off tailoring mop history, if they chop down their trees, they don't last too long.

Haiti is a good example of this, the damage from this earthquake would not have been as bad if trees where around to absorb the mud etc that landlides. James January 18, at I've written my Diploma Thesis environmental engineering about wood gasification in Bio-to-liquid strategies.

One obervation about the use of wood as fuel: Wood gasification uses Biomass that's rich in lignine, which doesn't decompose anaerobically, which you can't gasify or liquify easily. Wood gasification turns this biomass into something cra stock options capital gains can be handled by an internal combustion engine, and there are lots of those about.

Diversification of biomass sources can that's not a purely technical question help to gain energy in a more ecological way. To the previous poster: The gasifier has hardly any moving parts, so lubricating isn't so much of an issue there. Sides, how many kilograms of oil does your car should you own one use, compared to it's consumption of fuel? Martin January 18, at But I agree with James' comment.

We are already chopping down our trees at an alarming rate.

We need energy with a more infinite supply than either oil or wood. Tony January 18, at This is fine-grained charcoal powder that is permanently sequestered from the atmosphere. Some of the combustible gases can be compressed. This would eliminate some drawbacks such as the long start-up time for a woodgas car. Applications for this also exist in agriculture syngas-powered tractor. I have talked to farmers who are promoting this idea, so that they can use their farm residue as fuel.

Again, this would be an application for non-mobile use. The syngas is fermented into ethanol Coskata is commercializing this process. This way, none of the acm currency trader would have to be diverted for thermal use in keeping the reaction going.

Anonymous January 18, singapore dollar exchange rate today india One of the better articles I've read on the subject. Only one "mistake" that I caught "coal" monoxide. I'm glad to see Dave Nichols and Vesa in the article and of course, John.

These folks have spent piles of time trying to get the word out and also present a clean and professional image with their units. I'm dissapointed that my trucks or cars or Wayne Keith's trucks didn't appear in it but then I'm not trying to market anything and my stuff is made from junk and Wayne does his bit in the southern US. I just enjoy being part of the scene and every mile I log on woodgas is a grin.

I have many thousands behind me now. Regards and BBB, Mike LaRosa, Linden, Wisconsin, USA. Mike LaRosa January 18, at Robin Hunt, Simon Chippendale and I built a producer gas unit using old second world war plans at Walcot Reclamation in Bath UK in the early s. I was the boffin and they were the mechanics. After many hair-raising and eyebrow-singeing experiments we finally got it going, welded to chassis extensions looking very similar to your pics, I think to an old Singer or the like.

It had to be run on small blocks of wood, around 2ins or 3ins cubes, otherwise the pieces did not have a large enough surface area to generate enough gas. We tried it out on public roads, but its main disadvantage was that each time it went over a bump there was a large release of a massive bubble of gas which had nowhere to go, apart from out of an overhead relief valve which immediately lit every time it released the gas, rather like a jet engine.

The local traffic cops were bemused. They could not decide which laws we were breaking but they were certain we were. We gave up trying to work out the bumping gas release issue and the last I heard the mechanics took the car to a field, jammed the steering wheel over and the accelerator down, and shot at it until it stopped going.

Who knows it might still be in a hedgrow somewhere outside Bath to this day. Thornton Kay January 18, at You might want to review your position on ethanol after digesting David Blume's material on hukum forex menurut muhammadiyah sustainable cropping and production of the fuel.

Corn is one of the worst performing crops, but there are many others yielding in the order of gallons per acre. Because much of the crop is not fermented the roots and the nutrients can be returned to the soil, it can be both carbon negative and sustainable. Many crops can be incentive stock options uk on marginal or arid lands, on waste streams, and without cultivation, fertiliser, herbicides or pesticides.

If the US stops wasting grain on feeding ruminants, and employs much more productive, ecology based production systems such as permaculture, there won't be a shortage of arable land. Ethanol burns cleaner, cooler, and can get better mileage than gasoline, requires only options trading dax engine adjustment, and you don't have the disadvantages of wood gas.

Farm grown ethanol powered America's auto fleet into early last century, before gasoline got the upper hand by crook. It even helped powered Nazi Germany. For a quick but comprehensive introduction to the topic I recommend the Alcohol Can Be A Gas DVD.

He answers your concerns. It can be done poorly, and it can be done extremely well. Tim Auld January 21, at Alexander Healy January 21, at The word "almost" in the first sentence has to be unwarranted. That cannot be true.

The Russian, German, American, British Armies, etc. Roger January 21, at It is impossible to plant and harvest enough biomass to maintain the present milage per capita. For mobile applications, biomass remains a fuel for how to get a moneygram money order refund times, despite it's carbon negativity and low other emissions.

Making your own fuel makes one humble. Making your own fuel reduces unnecessary trips to nil. Making your own fuel is hard on the muscles, but sweet for the mind. It both allows and forces you to find market capitalization rate stock price about how to contribute to a more sustainable world.

Dutch Birth certificate stock market fidelity January 21, at Kris De Decker January 21, at I just received a link to Low Tech from my friend and I'm free to say: Please, improve your visibility in search engines, there are a lot of people worldwide who would enjoy your articles but no opportunity to find you.

Aleks January 24, at So can you use wood pellets, like they use in pellet stoves? Could you feed them in a few pellets at a time like a pellet stove? Pellets can be made from grasses, sawdust, scrap wood, seaweed, and other cheap renewable biomass.

You can buy them in bags, or maybe at some refueling station of the future. Would you really need such a large contraption if you fed your system with a measured amount of pellets?

There are a few small gasifiers powered by pellets. Auger feeding them is possible, but that's too stock brokerage firms beverly hills and complicated for mobile applications. Besides the fact that pellets are too small for medium car gasifiers, you still need a large storage to get some milage.

And the gas is still dusty and humid, so you also need that large cleaning train. Personally I prefer wood above pellets, because pellets require more fossile fuel for part time pharmacist jobs work from home philippines and transportation and they make you dependant on suppliers.

But you are right on the advantageous fact that pellets also can be made of other biomass. Dutch John January 27, at Download the program for binary options without redrawing next evolution of the woodgas car is stationary refining of the syngas into liquid fuels for longer travels and better mileage without the extra weight.

Ben January 27, at You can make your own pellets too. If you look on eBay there are pellet machines available. They are a relatively low tech device. Agreed about the added complexity of an auger or archimede screw pump for the pellets.

Engineering challenges at the least, showstopper at the worst Rick January 30, at This is a very telling sentence. I first experienced this factor when trying to commute by bike. As a bicyclist is clearly a bum, punk, or how does the westboro church make money convict, I was often harassed by police who were completely uninformed about the law. Political activism and police relations are key to alternative fuel use!

It's that, or stealth. Community relations must be undertaken to educate the public and make them friendly to the technology, and antique laws must be changed to allow for new tech. Johnny Payphone February 01, at Plastics contain a lot of nasty stuff, like chlorines. You do not want these poisonous pollutants blown into the environment.

Dutch John February 06, at What I'd like to see is a sukses di dunia forex electric home generator that can run using this woodgas system. In case of a grid power failure one could just use the woodgas generator as backup.

Imagine, no storage of diesel or gasoline which goes bad after several months time. If the grid failed then gas stations couldn't pump fuel anyway.

If this was small enough you could attached it to your RV and camp in way out places where there wasn't any electricity. Could it be that in some quarters in the developed world some of the present day DIY low tech is seen as subversive and threatening, while other low tech is politically and trading binary options in south africa non-threatening?

Suggested low tech types and their acceptablity: From this you can see that anyone running a home made mobile producer gas car in peacetime Britain is seen as akin to Mad Max by the local magistrate.

Thornton March 01, at I am allowed to drive on woodgas in the Netherlands, although customs already sees me as a threat. Once ten others also start to drive on wood, the party will be over.

Developing a small woodgasgenerator to power an electric genset for the third world is however encouraged Dutch John March 07, at Do a site on "Consumer Gas" from work from home medical answering service jobs and barnyard wastes - Consider that the Average American's humanure is richer, by his diet, and larger by hid physical size than any pig manure found in Asia!

Do we have a fuel source here? A free fuel source? Oslo, Norway runs city buses on sewage! Parts of Sweden also? San Antonio Texas cost averaging forex purported to take advantage of humanure also?

Factory Newtec forex metatrader expert produce copious amounts of Manure, why not bio-gas it into fuel and fertilizer?

Wood gas vehicles: firewood in the fuel tank - LOW-TECH MAGAZINE

This topic, low tech in nature but possibly highly rewarding for a full site! Uncle B March 13, at Peef set up a webcam so you can watch the proceedings online. All temp, pressure, and flow rate particulars are being datalogged for presentation after the run, as are the specifics of biomass in to electricity out. The fuel is regular wood chips. No exotically produced chunks. Yesterday's run went well.

We ran somewhere between 10 and 11 hours without problem, no hands required to keep it going. We had one unplanned shut down to tighten a plumbing plug on the ash port that was leaking air. Air leaking by the grate mixes with hot gas and starts a bit of combustion. Always check your caps and plugs before you start.

Otherwise, everything worked happily. Not a single bridge or fuel blockage over the whole run. Filters looked good at the end too. It all seems annoyingly simple, given all the challenges to get to here. Then again, bear isn't annoyed.

Congratulations goes to bear for many rounds of deeply impressive mechatronic control work. And congratulations to jay for figuring buy coskata stock good the bridging issues so the wood chips continue to flow without issue. We'll be posting more info in the forum as we go, so see here: Yesterday someone brought over a gas analysis machine and we finally got some real gas composition numbers.

There is a picture of the read out in the forum at the link above. We're here until 11pm or so tonight. Come over and enjoy wood chip margaritas if you are in the area. Jim Mason June 07, at We throw away a lot of wood at the dump, and if we change our habits, such as and when we grow corn, we grind up the stock and throw that behind the combine which could also possibly be used as well.

These are just two examples off the top of my head. Yes, it won't be simple but it can be done. Cory Gohm July 26, at Biomass gasification should only be used for stationary combined heat and power applications which increases overall system efficiency doubles at least.

There are vast areas where this technology is very practical - particularly in managed forests where the fuel is a byproduct of forest maintenance. Work from home without investment in delhi gas cars are m5 forex scalping interesting novelty and a good demonstration of this old technology but of course they're not a solution for sustainable transportation.

I've read that when woodgas was a widespread alternative to unavailable petrol around the second world war various European governments had to ultimately legislate to ensure the countryside wasn't stripped bare. Darcy November 26, at I would like to know how coal would work in this kind of burner?

Would it produce a greater energy; Increase the overall speed and distance capability?. Greene January 15, at In the United States there is a quite a few people who have completed successful woodgas projects.

Woodgas is great stuff not just for automobile transportation but for electrical power generation. Jonathan Spreadborough February 02, at Bamboo has many advantages over timber. It can be harvested 3 years after cultivation. It will regrow without replanting. We don't haul petroleum refineries behind cars using fossil fuel, so why burden down a biofuel car with extra equipment?

If we leave the gas generator stationary at a gas station, we can make it bigger and more robust. This makes it more reliable no rattling about to loosen the pipe fittingsand a larger burner means less heat loss, so greater efficiency. Next, filter the gas to remove the tars, and pass it through a rubidium catalyst. Hydrogen leaks easily, and carbon monoxide is toxic; the catalyst will combine them to form methane and water.

Pass the gas through several filter beds lime, zeolite to remove the carbon dioxide and water. Regenerate the filter beds using waste heat from the burner. Finally, compress the gas so you can separate out the methane from the remaining carbon dioxide and the nitrogen. Andres Mauricio November 30, at I use a wood gas camping stove its a great piece of kit, these things are monsters in comparison. I just wanted to inform you guys about logging in north America.

I'm a logger, and we burn the top 30 feet of almost every tree, and any tree that is not straight enough for the mill. So if you guys could see the amount of wood that could be used for this, that is already being burned anyway, I believe many would be shocked.

I hope that these cars become more common, I see a large surplus of this fuel being burned already, just to dispose of it. Jason January 02, at I went to Germany in as one of the 1st military dependents and was fascinated by all the wood powered trucks.

A lot or them used a dual chambered burner with a sealed gasification chamber and an open wood,charcoal or coal burner to heat the wood in the sealed chamber.

The charred wood from the sealed chamber would be burned later to heat more green wood. A lot of the trucks were small 3 wheel pick-ups. I was 9 years old at the time. I went back at 14 years old and wood powered trucks were gone. Mark Garrabrant January 24, at If you make the gas by destructive distillation in the absence of air like I do, compressed wood gas works great; it is basically natural gas.

You don't have to have psychotic hypocrite disorder a PHD or even a Masturbator degree to understand the Energy Bootlegger tmplain old common sense works fine.

My invention, which is patent pending, as the Rural Residential Energy Harvester tm. The Energy Bootlegger will change the world for the better as soon as the people demand the monetary manipulating, energy monopolizing, war profiteering spawn step aside. Yes I call them ZioNazis and certain Jews collaborated with Hitler while their less fortunate working class countrymen died so they could profit.

Ken Driessen January 29, at Whoa - gettin' kinda deep There are as many viable alternatives to fossil fuels as there are excuses for not using them. Ignorance shouldn't be on the list.

DC Kerr May 05, at This is a great article. Although running a car on woodgas is a cumbersome affair, it would be great to burn scrap wood and be somewhat free from big oil.

I'm going to be converting a second truck I own to do just that, thanks to a high school kid with access to a cad based plasma cutter. To the posters above concerned about trees: I am a professional forester and we have more treed acres with more trees on those acres than there were here in Our problem isn't cutting too much, our problem for the last 40 years has been cutting too little.

Contrary to popular belief, you can't just let nature takes it's course, unless you're willing to watch things just fall apart and burn up. In my opinion, it's better to log create and maintain jobs and use this wood for fuel, heat, or whatever than to let it fall apart and inevitably burn up. Bryan May 17, at Mimi October 10, at Well, there is no way this would work on any scale in market-driven economy, not at least as far as any volume of fossil fuel is available You'll have to MAKE people use this a common problem with all such thing, yeah.

However, in practice that didn't work, not even in Siberia where this technology has been tested from s to s. Another possible application of this tech would be in a post-apocaliptic scenario, with anything else beyond reach.

Mike August 05, at You would need much more biomass to drive the same distance. Kris De Decker August 11, at I am making a documentary video about a wood gas propelled truck and its builder. The video will contrast the "Mad Max" post-apocalyptic world where people kill for fuel with my vision. I see of a bunch of new age multiracial "hippy" types sharing a wood gas powered truck pulling loads of local vegetables, fresh fish, kegs of beer and handicrafts to town for trade.

For now, this technology is only of interest to hobbyists, cranks like me, and, of course, you. When the collapse arrives, let us share our knowledge to construct a more gentle and egalitarian society. Richard Hiner September 05, at Regarding vegetable-based biofuels, I'm actually more into vegetable oils either raw or waste cooking oilbiodiesel which can eventually include waste fast from meat processing in the blend and at a lower extent ethanol.

But I can't deny that I would like to perform some experiences with wood gas too. Daniel Girald September 22, at My back of the envelope analysis suggested that it could be worth while running farm equipment off gasified crop waste, particularly if the ash were recycled via settling ponds to grow green manure from nitrogen fixing pond weed. With that, non-renewable farm inputs go way down, making it a lot more practical to grow other biofuels that are more convenient to use in other vehicles it wouldn't be anything like as practical to use the convenient biofuels to run the farm equipment as too much of the yield would have to be re-input, but that issue doesn't come up with gasified crop waste.

Peter Lawrence December 23, at Why not combine an Electric car with a trailer with a Wood gas driven Engine powering an Electric generator feeding the car att all times, even while driving, while burning gas fumes.

There would be no need to put out the fire while parking since the charging is Active as long as burning is Active. This would improve range of car an efficiency of Wood gas burner. Erwin Lapschies August 11, at Erwin I am a newbe on woodgas but I joined drive on wood wayne keith has a unit that works rather well I took 4 monthes to build and add to a 97 gmc with good results.

The latest cutting edge gasifier I've heard about involves putting the dirty producer gas through molten metal, which cracks all the tar molecules to produce a very clean gas. This method allows for gasification of biomass other than just wood, since reduction zones are not necessary molten metal cracks tar molecules and the heat range of the material as it gasifies is also less stringent. Waste trash can be gasified, put through molten metal, and come out cleaner than the best wood-only gasifiers on the market today.

Wonder how this new gasification technique would rate on an environmental level if concentrated sunlight parabolic dish or trough were used as the heat source for both gasification and the heating of the metal to its liquid state. But, of course, a solar powered refinery for waste gasification is a combination of two separate systems and hence, too complicated and creative for realistic consideration.

Just ask the oil and coal companies and I'll bet they'll tell you all about how impossible this would be. Bill September 28, at If you are using charcoal as your feed stock you can increase the efficiency by using C02 instead oxygen to reduce the charcoal once you have it hot. The charcoal will strip one oxygen atom from the C02 making 2 carbon monoxide molecules instead of just one for each carbon atom burned from the charcoal.

Slowburn August 15, at The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments. Having trouble reading this image?

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them. Email address will not be displayed with the comment. Name is required to post a comment. Please enter a valid email address. LOW-TECH MAGAZINE Doubts on progress and technology window. Second World War The technology became commonplace in many European countries during the Second World War, as a consequence of the rationing of fossil fuels.

Research programme in Sweden Rising fuel prices and global warming have resulted in renewed interest in firewood as a direct fuel. Fuel The fuel for a wood gas car consists of wood or wood chips see picture on the left. Trailer As is the case with other cars, the range of a wood gas car is also dependent on the vehicle itself. Freedom Enlarging the "fuel tank" is the only option to improve the range further except for reducing one's speed, of course, but that is another story.

Does the woodmobile have a future? The advantages of wood gas cars The greatest advantage of producer gas vehicles is that an accessible and renewable fuel can be used directly without any previous treatment. The drawbacks of wood gas cars In spite of all these advantages, it takes just one look at a woodmobile to realize that it is anything but an ideal solution. Ease of use Another problem of wood gas cars is that they are not particularly user-friendly, although this has improved compared to the technology used in the Second World War.

See the second part of this pdf document page 17 and further for a description of what it was like to drive a wood gas car back then: Mass-produced woodmobiles Of course, all the vehicles described above are built by amateur engineers. Deforestation Unfortunately, wood gas shares an important disadvantage with other biofuels.

Comments You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. My only question is how to make it sustainable - how do you upkeep the supply of fuel?

Store the gas in cylinders, and swap them for empties when cars come in to refuel. Just my two cents. If you want to use wood for car fuel, make methanol from it. Please let me know where I can buy one Verify your Comment Previewing your Comment.

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We need a resilient, community-owned internet that uses less energy. Travel High Speed Trains are Killing the European Railway Network High speed rail is destroying the most valuable alternative to the airplane; the "low speed" rail network that has been in service for decades.

Fruit Walls Urban Farming in the s From the 16th to the 20th century, urban farmers grew Mediterranean fruits and vegetables as far north as England and the Netherlands, using only renewable energy. Energy Production Back to Basics: Direct Hydropower Medieval smokestacks: The Chinese Wheelbarrow How to downsize a transport network: This is especially true in the East, where it became a universal means of transportation for both passengers and goods, even over long distances.

Power Transmission The mechanical transmission of power 1: Stangenkunst The mechanical transmission of power 2: Jerker Lines Systems The mechanical transmission of power 3: Human Powered Cranes The sky is the limit: Wood Gas Vehicles Firewood in the Fuel Tank: Wood Gas Vehicles Wood gas cars are a not-so-elegant but surprisingly efficient and ecological alternative to their petrol gasoline cousins, whilst their range is comparable to that of electric cars.

Low-tech Cooking If we insulate our houses, why not our cooking pots? Well-tended fires outperform modern cooking stoves. Hand Tools Hand Powered Drilling Tools and Machines. Pedal Powered Factories The forgotten future of the stationary bicycle Bike powered electricity generators are not sustainable The short history of early pedal powered machines.

Heating People, not Places Insulation: First the Body, then the House The Revenge of the Circulating Fan. Open Modular Hardware How to make everything ourselves: The parts of an obsolete generation of products can be used to design the next generation, or something completely different. Power from the Tap Power from the Tap: Water Motors Just before the arrival of electricity at the end of the 19th century, miniature water turbines were connected to the tap and could power any machine that is now driven by electricity.

Aerial Ropeways Aerial ropeways: Other Languages Some articles have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch.