GAS-L: Engine Experience

["Terry Dixon" <t.dixon@sri.org.au>]

Dear Tom and All,

Ah ah ah ah !!!  The sobering questioning of hard (and harsh !) reality !
Excellent.   The inevitable shift in focus from the R&D perspective to the
commercial reality perspective.  I'll be very interested to read the
responses to this one.  For me (in the Australian sugar industry context,
and I dare say in a similar context for many others), the issues that you
question, of annual operating hours and maintenance period hours, are
CRUCIAL for commercial reality and viability long term.  Unless
gasification can deliver at 4500+ hours, maybe 8000+, continuous (no
shutdowns), and overhaul of 8000+ hours, then forget it !!!

Terry Dixon
Sugar Research Institute
AUSTRALIA

----- Forwarded by Terry Dixon/SRI on 02/09/2002 04:34 -----
                                                                                                                   
                    "Tom Miles"                                                                                    
                    <tmiles@trmile       To:     <gasification@crest.org>                                          
                    s.com>               cc:                                                                       
                                         Subject:     GAS-L: Engine Experience                                     
                    01/09/2002                                                                                     
                    16:05                                                                                          
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   




What has the experience been with engines and gasifiers? What are the
maintenace requirements? What is the typical annual use, 2000 hours? Are
there any that operate 6000 to 8000 hours per year? What is the expected
life? What are the actual maintenance intrevals? What facilities and
equipment are necessary for engine maintenance that are different than for
automotive or diesel power generation? What engines (make and model) work
well: Waukesha? Caterpiller? Lister?

The most used engines for producer gas seem to be modified natural gas or
LP engines or diesels that are run as dual fueled. Are oil and air filter
change intrevals the same for producer gas as for LP? Every 150 hours? What
other maintenance needs to be done?What is the expected engine life
compared with actual engine life for LP or duel fueled diesels on producer
gas? Can we expect an overhaul with producer gas after 2000 hours? Is
engine life 10000 hours? After than what needs to be done?

What has the experience been with converting existing diesels to dual
fueled applications? Good? Bad? What works and what doesn't work?

What is a practical genset size? Do the 500 kWe engine-gensets that we have
seen promoted actually survive? If you were doing distributed generation at
200 kWe what would you use? Four 50 kWe or larger gensets?

What's the experience with derating? What's the actual power production for
an engine rated for LP or diesel? If you were sizing a new system for 200
kWe how would you specify the engine?

We understand from the more successful gasifier-genset suppliers that
engine applications need a well organized "support system." What support
does a 50-200 kWe gasogen need?

Moisture in the fuel. If I make "bad" gas because of wet fuel does the
engine care? What kinds of problems result from wet fuel? What range of
gasifier fuel moisture can an engine tolerate without excessive derating?

Where does one go for engine experience or information about the use of
engines with gasifiers(what documents or web links)? Are there test block
benchmark performance tests for producer gas?

These are a lot of ignorant questions from one who is often asked for
direction. Until I use a gasogen to keep my own electronics on standby I'll
have to rely on the experience of others. Thank you for your contributions.

Kind regards,

Tom Miles




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