Is chipped wood made from the small branches of a felled tree a desirable fuel in a gasifier? Ever used chips?
Chipped wood in a gasifier
- Thread starter Mushroom Man
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Mushroom Man said:
Depends on your definition of "desirable."
A small volume of dry chips atop a good hot coal bed will actually produce intense output from the boiler. Also mixing in a few dry chips with a load of chunk wood can be manageable. Where you will run into problems is with large quantities of chips at once... this can plug the nozzle, as well as insulate the refractory from the much needed heat of the coal bed that is required for gasification... not to mention produce more woodgas than can be burned in some of the gasifiers with static primary and secondary air settings. Some models, when faced with too much woodgas at one time, enter into fits of "backpuffing," where pockets of fresh air in the upper chamber mix rapidly with dense smoke and then explode.
As a rule, gasifiers work best with good old chunk wood... this doesn't mean that a few chips once in a while will hurt anything. Once a year when I clean up the wood shed, all the bark and chips I sweep up get burned and their btu's dumped into the storage tanks. Generally I get a nice little fire and coal bed going in the boiler with chunk wood, and then put about a grocery bag at a time in worth of chips. Works well.
cheers
I burnt a large gravity box of dry chips one winter in my eko80. When I had a good coal bed I would through in a few chunks of cord wood and then throw in 2 or 3 scoop shovels of chips on top. They burnt very well. If I had a large supply of dry chips I probable would burn them. I think a person could set up a auto feed system with alot of thought and burn all chips if you first got a good coal bed. I have some info someplace on a guy that set up a tarm to do that. With that said there is some chip burners out there that are very well made. It's just that they won't sell them here in the US. The Refo made in Denmark is one. It will modulate from 10% to 100% and burn up to 45% moisture chips. It's getting good reviews over seas but they won't even answer emails here.
leaddog
leaddog
mwk1000
Member
I was wondering along the same lines with wood pellets. I saw a neat machine being made in Germany that will do 20mm pellets. 50KG / Hr. http://www.ecoworxx.de/index_en.html that seemed like a nice way to produce alternate fuel , If it lasts, It goes from a chipper type bin strait to pellets. I was wondering if anyone had tried it ( pellets ) in their gasser.
I have to do some searching, no hurry since it still looks to be a euro only gadget.
I have to do some searching, no hurry since it still looks to be a euro only gadget.
Here is one of the options for the woodgun gasifyers.
"Automatic fuel delivery systems are available for wood waste products such as sawdust, shavings, woodchips and densified biomass. These are designed more for industrial/commercial applications rather than residential."
"Automatic fuel delivery systems are available for wood waste products such as sawdust, shavings, woodchips and densified biomass. These are designed more for industrial/commercial applications rather than residential."
Briquetmaker
Member
I am trying to find out if I can burn 2" dia briquttes in a gasser. I installed a press at my shop to reduce waste and hopfully burn these. Not sure which boiler will burn these the best.
Briquetmaker said:
Yes you can burn 2" briquettes providing they are low moisture content and made of wood. Grass briquettes make around 7 times the ash, don't hold coals, and ultimately just don't work in typical downdraft gasifiers. I've been running some biobricks in the froling to make DHW and for testing... work fantastic.
Briquetmaker
Member
Briquetmaker said:
I won't say that you'll never have a partial clog of the nozzle... you get that once in a while using wood, but it's rare and it eventually burns through. I have burned some 2" round switchgrass briquettes in our old gasifier just for testing. Because they don't coal very well, I had to place them in on top of a coal bed that was established with firewood to make them work. You should not have this problem when using hardwood bricks. I have heard of a few people burning peach pits in their gasifiers, though with slight modification to the nozzle to prevent the pits from falling into the bottom chamber.
If you are concerned about it, perhaps you could take a batch of your bricks to someone who owns a gasifier locally and try them out... just to prove it to yourself. That's the best way to put your mind at ease.
cheers
I've done paper grocery bags full of bark and bits of wood and it produces tremendous heat as long as there is a good glowing coal bed first.
I tried some things called "Ecologs" and was unimpressed with them- they didn't seem to coal and did not seem to generate a high temperature burn.
I tried some things called "Ecologs" and was unimpressed with them- they didn't seem to coal and did not seem to generate a high temperature burn.
Mushroom Man said:
I've taken to cutting up 20" pieces of the tops and limbs that I'd have never bothered with for past wood-burning appliances-- and they work great in my gasifier. Anything that's the diameter of a silver dollar and not unstack-ably crooked is fuel in my eyes. There's more handling involved than larger wood, but it takes portions of the tree that'd otherwise go unused and renders it useful fuel. A firebox full of reasonably dry 'stickwood' like this produces a formidable amount of heat - probably because there's actually more cellulose mass and less space than with bigger split stuff.
Briquetmaker
Member
pybyr said:
It's the first season I'm experimenting with ecologs on my Hampton and I am positively impressed. Two ecologs at a time, together with one regular log, produce high heat output for about four hours. They don't coal or ash, that's why I mix a regular log in. Having said that, I am sold on the product and will heat my home also in upcoming seasons with ecologs.
- Status
Similar threads
