Everyman's gas well in a can, a distributed solution
Yesterday, I took a novel approach to converting short cycle organic carbon, a product of photosynthesis, into long cycle elemental carbon, biochar, with a one quart retort. It gave a very clean result with the retort clean as a whistle at the end. No tarry residues on the inside of the lid or any place else. The retort was loaded with about 1 quart of wood pellets and yielded about 16 oz of char — by volume.
To read how this becomes “Everyman’s gas well in a can, a distributed solution”, please follow the link below:
Everyman’s gas well in a can, a distributed solution .pdf
The illustrations and text in the PDF will allow you to make your own gas well in a can easily, quickly, and safely. It’s a fun project that you will enjoy. I hope you will do this experiment and then post comments about your experiences for other readers to learn from.
If you use this in a science class, please let me know.
Note: For a good resource on biochar, I recommend the Biochar Farms site. Be sure to scroll down their top page to see their excellent “Schematic of Biochar Solutions“.
Note 2: ZeroPoint Clean Tech is well on the way to commercializing the use of “Manufactured Gas” made from biomass — NOT coal.
Note 3: Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry on the key role “Manufactured Gas” played in economic development in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Author: Jock Gill
6 comments Jock Gill | Agriculture, Community, Economy, Energy, Technology
Through innovation and demonstration Jock Gill’s “Everyman’s gas will in a can, a distributed solution” is at the threshhold of reaching out to the masses with a story of the promise of biochar that advances the ethical use and creation of it. Bon Voyage.
Be inspired, stay connected.
Barry
Berkshire Harmony
Today I made a nice batch of grass pellet biochar in the Everyman’s Gas Well in a Can [the one quart model]. They sank in the quenching water and they passed the soap test. I also tasted tested the grass biochar pellets and they were good. Much less gritty than wood pellet biochar and softer. With, as expected, essentially neutral flavor.
The grass pellets are several years old and are from Jerry Cherney at Cornell. They were made from Reed Canary grass and tested out at 3% ash, or about 6X the ash in wood pellets. I wonder if this extra ash, which produce zero clinkers, adds agricultural value to the biochar?
To get slightly higher temperatures for the grass, and to ensure more complete charing of the bottom of the outer ring of wood pellets, I added 5 small holes around the outside of the base of the host can [3 lbs Costco coffee can]. I also had to reduce the load in the retort by about 50% as densified grass tends to expand when heated. If the retort is full, as in my first run, the grass pellets expand so much they choke off the pyrolysis before it completes. By allowing some vertical headroom for expansion, I cured this problem.
Times:
Outer ring of wood pellets only went 57 minutes — extra primary air. This is about 3 minutes less time than runs without the extra 5 small holes.
First gas flames from the retort were in about 17 minutes, as the top part of the retort was empty for expansion space.
The grass pellets in the retort continued to produce gas that burned for 18 minutes after the wood pellet flames went out. This is about half the extended time as with a retort filled to the top with wood pellets.
All in all very satisfactory results.
Next test: grass tablets
Erin Rasmussen sent along these links:
http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/quality
Jeff Davis found some old producer gas manuals, and we digitized them and made them available.
Producer gas [manufactured gas], is the same type of gas you are making. It tends to be a lot less stable than natural gas. My great grandfather was one of the early electrical engineers that were wiring towns away from producer gas because of the danger from explosions. Also check out my dad’s site:
And you may really like the GEK guys. They are working more at a research/kit level.
JPG: link to article on history of manufactured or producer gas
Historically, coal was used for producer gas, not biomass.
Great site, Jock!
This is information that should be spread far and wide. I’d like to build one just like it sometime soon.
I’m hoping that “iCan” use it when I go camping in a couple of weeks…
I’ve extended your great piece via a new angle: Gas Well In-A-Can: A New Lifestyle Model / Prototype / Protocol:http://bit.ly/dCrw9p
I love the fact that this company is working on syngas from wood pellets.
“ZeroPoint Clean Tech, Inc. is a renewable energy technology provider. ZeroPoint has developed a portfolio of distributed biomass energy solutions. Our core technology is a highly efficient biomass gasification reactor that converts biomass into renewable synthesis gas. ZeroPoint’s modular multi-feedstock process equipment is built to U.S. and international codes and is priced to create highly attractive renewable energy project economics.
The ZeroPoint Renewable Gas Solution is designed to produce synthesis gas for use in steam boilers, combustion plant co-firing, process heat and other thermal loads.
The ZeroPoint Renewable CHP Solution includes on-board gas scrubbing and is designed to power a reciprocating engine for use in distributed generation and combined heat and power projects.
The ZeroPoint Biomass to Water & Electricity Solution is an off-grid application that converts small amounts of biomass into purified water and electricity.
ZeroPoint is also developing a modular gas-to-liquids technology solution utilizing a Fischer-Tropsch conversion process. For further information about each of these technologies please click on the “applications” tab at the top of this page or the highlighted links above.”