Here is an updated photo of the conical screw chipper project. Just needs some final welding and a power take-off port. My plan is to use a driveline as the power source.

From Victory Gasworks.

The Kalle Gasifier is a vintage design that used charcoal for it’s fuel source. This was the preferred method for fueling cars during WWII because it was lighter and required less cleanup systems than wood. Contrary to popular belief, charcoal still has some volitiles that need to be decomposed and the Kalle design addressed this with an innovative design. The Kalle design is also unique in that it used cyclone soot and carbon dioxide from the engine exhaust to increase fuel efficiency. Every bit of carbon was used to power the engine.

There is a great page on Kalle here, but here are a few points I would like you to notice when you read it:

1) The nozzle was made movable to knock the char around and get it to settle in front of the nozzle for faster start-ups.

2) Making the standard grate obsolete by exiting the gasses along the intake nozzle in an updraft manner. This evened out gas production by relieving pressure buildup at the grate. A rubber membrane moved the grate as pressure changed to keep flow steady.

3) How the design solved one set of problems, i.e. grate cleaning and created a new one; soot in the cyclone. This is often the case in gasifier design. Change one thing and you change everything.

I will be digging up some more historical designs during the lazy winter season. Let’s see what other gems are buried in the past.

Woody Gasifier announces the release of the Off Gridder, the first multi-fuel gasifier for the home power generation market.  Using wood pellets, wood chunks, chips and certain types of agricultural waste, it is able to meet the power needs of an efficient home in as little as 2-4 hours a day.  Beneficial bi-products include heat for hot water and biochar for gardening.

The Off Gridder uses thermal decomposition to break the wood into it’s most basic elements including:  hydrogen, burnable carbon gases, methane and inert nitrogen.  These gases, created on site, act like natural gas to power engines and electric generators.

Plant waste called biomass, makes a compelling alternative energy source because it’s usually available on site or locally and allows plants to provide oxygen, clean water, habitat and carbon sinking before becoming a renewable energy fuel. Truly green energy.

“What most people don’t understand is that we don’t have to level mountains or go beneath the sands of Saudi Arabia to meet our personal electric needs. We have hydrocarbons right here growing all around us.  Trees and plant waste are renewable, carbon neutral fuels that we can grow and harness locally”, says the designer, inventor and CEO Ben Peterson, a winner of Popular Mechanic’s Backyard Genius Award 2009 and founder of Victorygasworks.com, the largest  social network on gasification in the world.

The Off Gridder will be available for sale on Sept. 28, 2009 at the product’s website www.woodygasifier.com.  The starting price is $4,995 and it goes up from there dependent on what options and features one picks to make the ideal configuration for their needs.