Re: GAS-L: Oh!! -- that small steam power plant ---

[Andrew Heggie <andrew.heggie@dtn.ntl.com>]

On Tue, 28 Mar 2000 08:32:53 EST, Tom wrote:


>Most of the early work on gasification (1900-1940) used charcoal for its 
Yup, I understand that.
>convenience, and hang the cost or inefficiency.  After WWII got going all the 
>countries realized that throwing away 70% of the wood energy to make the 
But the whole point for this discussion is that nothing is thrown
away. The wood is pyrolysed to charcoal and the off gas is burned
cleanly to cook food. Ronal was previously a champion of this
co-product for export as a cash return, Alex and I were just
suggesting an alternate market to cooking charcoal.

I have been discussing the relative merits of converted automobile
engines as prime movers (powered with steam versus producer gas) with
Vernon Harris. He suggests that some cultures are so poor any
technology will require continuing support. My viewpoint is parochial,
I have not travelled anywhere dependant on biomass as a cooking fuel.
It seems to me that automobile technology is available to many people
still dependant on biomass for cooking. Fuel for these engines must be
a drain on currency. My guess was that substituting an imported fuel
with a home grown one would be beneficial.
>charcoal was destroying their forests, so they took the extra steps required 
>for wood gasifiers (tar cleaning etc.)  It's all detailed in the books below 
>and I have been re-reading them with new insites.  "Those who don't study 
>history are doome dto repeat the mistakes of history." (Lord Acton?)
>
>We are developing a "tarfree" gasifier at CPC and expect to throw out all the 
>wet scrubbing etc. the bedeviled the WWII "Stoves".  
I hope you do bring this device to the market, but will it be cheaper
than a charcoal gasifier and as simple as the Kalle one appears to be?
My proposition was that a charcoal gasifier might be cheaper to make,
easier to operate and more compact than a wood gasifier.
AJH
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