Ben from Victory Gasworks has finished development of their first small-scale gasifier to go on sale. The product is called the Woody ESP, which stands for emergency and secondary power. In the video below Ben gives a summary of the features on the Woody ESP, and shows the unit in operation.

To begin with Ben shows the lid to the hopper where the fuel is loaded. The hopper and combustion zone on the Woody ESP is highly insulated. The reasons for this is so the unit can reduce tar formation as much as possible to generate cleaner gas, which means the filters will not have to be cleaned as often and produces a more reliable operation.

Secondly Ben shows the various ports on the unit for it to breath, ignition port, ash clean out and ejector port. Ben has replaced the cyclone for initial gas cleaning and gone for a coarse filter, as stated this will still have some cyclone benefits. Ben then shows the condensate drain, this is where the moisture in terms of steam is released from the process. The final filter goes through a cooling system and then finally through an after market filter. The process should produce very clean gas for use in a combustion engine.

Within two minutes the gasifier is producing gas, Ben then shows the high operating temperatures of the woody gasifier before sending the gas to the small generator. The small tank is a final condensate tank to remove as much moisture from the gas as possible before it enters the engine. Ben also shows how clear the water condensate from the process is, this illustrates the high filtration of the gasifier.

Using Biomass Pellets in the Woody

Currently Ben mainly uses wood blocks in the Woody, however he has had successful trials with wood pellets. However there are some issues with this design of gasifier when using biomass pellets, which I will talk about in the next post.

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can process biomass including wood into fuel pellets. If you would be interested in registering your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer and receiving updates on our progress and informed when the pelletizer is on sale please send us an email to:

Contact @ PelHeat . Com

For more information please visit:

www.PelHeat.com

Thank you for your interest

In the videos below is an example of a small-scale mobile gasification system running on wood pellets. Casey shows in the first video the various components of his home made system. Here is a quick summary of the components.

Gasifier Partial Combustion Chamber

The first component is made from a recycled tank with several modifications including a stove door and 4” inch pipe. The wood pellets are placed in the pipe and fall into the combustion zone in the centre of the tank. As the wood pellets burn in a low oxygen environment with air sucked in through the cap, the syngas/producer gas passes through the bottom of the pipe into the heat exchanger tubes.

Heat Exchanger

The gas now passes through the heat exchanger before going through the filter system. Taking heat away from the gases reduces complications with the filter and pipes dealing with hot gas and also makes the gas perform more efficiently in the engine.

Water Filter

After the gas has been cooled it is first passed through a water filter to remove the majority of excess tar and particulates contained in the gas. The gas also contains condensate/water from the wood, which is also extracted.

Hay and Polyester Filter

Finally before the gas enters the engine it is passed through a hay and polyester filter. Making the gas as clean as possible and removing the moisture is important for engine reliability. Without gas cleaning tar and moisture would severely impact on the efficiency and reliability of the engine.

Gasifier Start-up

The second video shows how the gasifier is started. Firstly the starting fan is used and then the bed of charcoal is ignited. It will take several minutes before the gasifier is producing flammable gases and this can be checked before sending the gas into the engine. When Casey directs the gas to the engine the correct air to gas mixture needs to be found so the engine runs smoothly.

More and more small scale gasifier projects are experimenting with producing gas on a small scale for the use in generators and to even power vehicles. For gasification systems to operate efficiently and consistently a low moisture content fuel is required, pellets are ideal for the process. It doesn’t only include wood pellets, any biomass pellets can be used and in some cases it has been found that grass pellets release even more gas than wood pellets.

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can process resources including wood into fuel pellets. If you would be interested in registering your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer and receiving updates on our progress and informed when the pelletizer is on sale please send us an email to:

Contact @ PelHeat . Com

For more information please visit:

www.PelHeat.com

Thank you for your interest