Wood gas, gasifier.

[Kevin 007]

Anyone ever play and re-invent a wood gas gasifier like europe used in many vehicles after the war, due to the shortage of oil. I working on a system for an old 454 propane truck. Of course its not the most practical...yet. But it just plain cool. And can produce a NEGATIVE emission.

 

[m67tang]

There was a write up in mother earth news about wood burning trucks. I would go that route if I had gas trucks... but I will not switch back to do it. WMO is too easy!!!

 

[Brad S.]

Kevin,
"Would" you put the firebox in the bed of the pickup??
I remember watching the show "The Colony" when it first came out, they did the same thing with a small engine.
That amazed me it would run on that stuff.
Now we know where all the wood chips from the local parks would go.

 

[m67tang]

The BIGGEST drawback I saw from Mother Earth News article was the wood had to be chopped up just right into small pieces to get the energy for the truck to run right. It took a chopping machine to do this properly. too many steps. I guess you find out why its cheap but nobody's doing it.

 

[velacreations]

don't make the MEN gasifier. It creates all sorts of crap you don't want.

Do yourself a favor, and get on this group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/WoodGas

Their photo section is extremely valuable.

They make good gasifiers from junk, mostly big chevy brake rotors and water heaters and stuff like that. They've got things figured out, so you can pretty much just follow one of the successful designs. There is a lot to it, and that group has TONS of info.