Re: Gasification terminology

["Paul S. Anderson" <psanders@ilstu.edu>]

Tom   (please forward to the gasification list if
desired,  I cannot post there because I am not subscribed to
it.  As with several of us, we depend on Tom (or others?) to link us
with the "gasifier-folks")

At 11:02 PM 1/29/02 -0500, Reedtb2@cs.com wrote:

...snip...

> However, biomass is
> only 20-30% fixed carbon, so the million gasifiers of WWII were primarily
> pyrolytic and only secondarily carbon reactions..... 

Thank you.  I have been wondering about this.  To say it now in
my words, 

"pyrolytic gasification" means:  
      1.  fire-induced release of the
gasses
      2.  HEAT induced release of the
gasses (I believe that the "retort" method of creating charcoal
means the gases are driven off by heat from outside and is considered to
be gasification.)

Note:  pyro to me is fire, and thermo to me is heat (from fire or
otherwise).  But I can live with "pyrolytic gasification"
meaning fire and other heat as driving off the gasses. 

And then there is 

"carbon-reaction gasification", as occurs with burning of coal
and charcoal (and diamonds), right?  Is there a more correct name
for it.

And none of the above is the "secondary combustion" of the
gasses.
 
Therefore, in an open fire we can have pyrolytic gasification AND
carbon-reaction gasification AND secondary combustion of the gasses, with
or without smoke (smoke basically is the incomplete combustion of the
gasses.)

Tom, please correct my errors and let me know.

Paul

Paul S. Anderson, Ph.D.,  Fulbright Prof. to Mozambique 8/99 - 7/00

Dept of Geography - Geology (Box 4400), Illinois State University

Normal, IL  61790-4400   Voice:  309-438-7360;  FAX:  309-438-5310

E-mail: psanders@ilstu.edu - Internet items:
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