Downdraft

A new Powerhearth for the marketplace!

Last updated October 08, 2009

A new Powerhearth for the marketplace!
Bill Klein, 3i, October 6, 2009

3i (International Innovations Incorporated), the manufacturers of the world famous Powerhearth, an environmentally friendly biomass conversion system, proudly announce the availability of the Mini Powerhearth in sizes from 5 to 25 KWe. Please find several photographs on the Gasification List web site or contact us directly.

The photographs are of a newly commissioned 5 KWe Powerhearth, shortly after its final testing before delivery to the customer.

This particular unit is a trailer mounted model and will be used in the woods by the customer/logger as a power source for his portable sawmill. By choice, it will be manually operated and batch loaded.

Our regular production model would be outfitted with a continuous feed, airtight auger system from an adjacent metering bin.

We first began work on the great grandparents of this little guy in 2006 and, after thousands of hours of testing, decided we could finally commercialize the model last June. Though a "hunk of metal", we think it's beautiful and it works so bloody well!

A few stats:

Fixed bed, downdraft, linear hearth biomass conversion system

Two inch throat

Makes in excess of 10 cfm gas flow, measured after the gas cooler/cleaner/polisher

Length - without shrouds: 1.5 feet

Width - without shrouds: 1.16 feet

Height: Just under four feet

Weight: approximately 500 lbs.

Operating temperature: 1,250 - 1,300 C

Turndown test - 12 hours: less than 2 cfm

Prior to shipment, each unit undergoes 2 24 hour non stop tests and a 100 hour non stop certification test. The same tests are repeated during commissioning, but with engine(s) and electronics, computers, etc. fully integrated**

** As an option, the unit is capable of full automation, including ash removal and is sized appropriately to maintain net output and parasitic load.

Feedstock: wood chips* 15 to 25% mc and produces a clean and clear flare.

Ash content: approximately 0.25%, but may go as high as 0.5% - clean, fine ash w/o visible char

* As part of the test protocol, each Powerhearth is tested with briquettes of various origin as a check for versatility. Briquettes include green waste, bagasse, non putrescent MSW, black coal, brown coal, rubber, sewage sludge, livestock waste, certain plastics and RDF.

We believe this to be the smallest commercial gasifier capable of producing clean, engine ready, gas 24/7. Each unit is accompanied by the same Powerhearth performance guarantee and full service warranty.

Respectfully,

Bill Klein

3i

Powerhearth: the power of energy independence. It's your choice!

http://www.3iAlternativePower.com

Side view W/o Engine on Trailer

Biomass Engineering UK Ltd Dortmund Site

Last updated March 09, 2009

Biomass Engineering UK Ltd Dortmund Site
Sam Heyes, Biomass Engineering Ltd., March 2009

From Biomass Engineering UK a very nice video of their CHP generator in
Dortmund, Germany

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8BUIOmMHe4

"This is a video showing our Dortmund plant running on clean wood. This site is a 500kw CHP If you have any questions or would like further information feel free to email me email me on s.heyes@biomass.uk.com"

Fuel 500 kg.hr 10-20% MC

Power 500 kWe

District Heat 800 KW

Contact:
Sam Heyes
Business Development
Biomass Engineering Ltd
Tel: 01925220338
Mobile: 07974980258
Email: s.heyes@biomass.uk.com
www.Biomass.uk.com

See also:

http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/taxonomy/term/45

Gasification of Wood Chip Waste for Domestic Heat and Power - January 2009.

Last updated May 21, 2009

Gasification of Wood Chip Waste for Domestic Heat and Power - January 2009.
Ken Boak, January 30, 2009

Lister
Lister

This is my 1953 6hp Lister diesel Startomatic
generator set installed in the renewable energy
workshop. It supplies heated water and power
to my house. Currently it runs on waste veg oil.

The aim is to run this engine using wood gas
produced from woodchip waste from tree
surgery, plus about 20% veg oil in dual fuel
mode.

Engines have been powered on wood gas for
just over 100 years, with main developments in
Europe and Scandinavia occurring during
wartime fuel shortages in the 1940s.

These pages look at my wood gas project.

Video of Honda Accord with GEK driving

Last updated January 10, 2009

Video of Honda Accord with GEK driving
Jim Mason, All Power Labs, Berkeley, CA, January 8, 2009

Here's the video of the first drive of the honda with the modified GEK in the trunk. The drive was around oakland and Berkeley California.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JyazgRBtq8&eurl=http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert_your_Honda_Accord_to_run_on_trash/&feature=player_embedded

Again the point of this side hopper adaptation of the GEK is to get the gasifier into a more horizontal form factor, which better fits in cars, as well as eliminate the drying loads from the combustion zone.

The architecture here uses the waste heat in the output gas to do the drying. The goal is fuel entering the reactor at 0% moisture, then adding it back in as steam via the preheating "air inlets" to the degree the combustion temps allow.

We also entered the honda in a contest on the DIY site, www.Instructables.com, with a pile of craftsman tools as the award.

Tools are good. We all need more of them. So if you would like, please go vote for us, which is also generally a vote for more gasification in the public eye. the instructable is here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert_your_Honda_Accord_to_run_on_trash/

The instructable has a full copy of the GEK gasifier plans and
fabrication/assembly instructions. It also allows downloading them
as a single pdf, which our wiki can't do.

Jim

University of Montana Bio-Energy Project: Energy Tech Practicum

Last updated November 04, 2008

University of Montana Bio-Energy Project: Energy Tech Practicum(5.4 MB ppt)
Brian Kerns, University of Montana, Alternative Energy Research and Development, brian.kerns@umontana.edu August 4, 2008

Biomax 25
Biomax 25

Biomass Project
Sponsored by USDA
3 year project, begun 10/2006
Utilizes Community Power Corp.’s BioMax® technology
Custom-built portable trailer
$500,000 for BioMax & trailer
Convert wood residue to
Electricity
Thermal (heat) energy

Project Concept:
Is it economically viable to transport portable distributed energy generators into locations that are producing biomass residues?

BioMax 25
- 25 kilowatts electrical
= 200,000 Btu/h heat
- Elec. & heat energy for 15 avg. MT homes
- 50 lbs/hr wood chips
- 1,750 scf/h prod. gas
- Char/ash production 0.75 lbs/hr
- Soil amendment
- 70% overall efficiency

Fuel Equivalents
1 hr operation = 50 lb wood = 400,000 Btu
= 3.3 gal gasoline
= 8 gal diesel
= 4.5 gal propane
= 2.9 gal crude oil
= 33.3 lbs coal
= 387.9 cubic feet natural gas

BioMax Emissions
Complies w/ CA air stds
Lbs/kWh
NOX 0.00065
CO 0.0000295
VOC 0.000031
PM2-5 0.0003
PM10 0.0000
CO2 7.7260
Hg 0.0000
Pb 0.0000
SO2 <0.0030

See also:
Woody Biomass Lights Up Researchers Capitol Press, 8/22/08

Prototype gasifier turns wood chips into versatile fuel source

Barbara Coyner
For the Capital Press

MISSOULA, Mont. - With a flip of a switch, Brian Kerns can turn wood chips into energy for a car, light at a remote work site, or electricity for the energy grid. . .

For the economics see:
Fuel to Burn: Economics of Converting Forest Thinnings to Energy Using BioMax in Southern Oregon. E. M. (Ted) Bilek, Kenneth E. Skog, Jeremy Fried, Glenn Christensen, USFS General Technical Report FPL-GTR-157

Frank Shields Demonstrates the Gasifier Experimenter's Kit (GEK)

Last updated November 04, 2008

Frank Shields Demonstrates the Gasifier Experimenter's Kit (GEK)
Tom Miles, August 8, 2008

Frank with GEK at ETHOS Stove Camp 2008
Frank with GEK at ETHOS Stove Camp 2008

GEK and Burner
GEK and Burner

Frank Shields demonstrated Jim Mason's Gasifier Experimenter's Kit (GEK) at the ETHOS 2008 Stoves Camp in Cottage Grove, Oregon, August 5-9, 2008. Frank gave the gasifier it's first trials at the Stoves Camp which is held annually at Aprovecho Research Center to train people in making improved cooking stoves for developing countries.(See Biomass Cooking Stoves http://www.bioenergylists.org)

Woodgas.net

Last updated October 28, 2008

Woodgas.net
Jonathan Spreadborough,Nebraska, May 11, 2008
1990 Ford F-250 fuel injected 5.0L1990 Ford F-250 fuel injected 5.0L

My truck is a dual fuel truck. I can run on wood or gasoline. I am now working on a hybrid mode, I purchased a chip and chip burner from moates.net and am using Paul Booths ECC Editor to work with my fuel injection and spark tables to allow me to meter in some gasoline for better acceleration and to make up for any varying woodgas production conditions. Many thanks are due to Paul Booth for not only writing the ECC Editor program but for the time he personally put in making a definition file for my trucks ECC. The process of running in a hybrid mode is still in the development stages, I have met with some success. This page will be updated as things progress.

See Woodgas.net

Farmall "H" powered by downdraft wood fired producer

Last updated February 23, 2008

Farmall "H" powered by downdraft wood fired producer
Bruce Jackson,. Michigan, January 17, 2008
Jackson Gasifier and Farmall H

Jackson Gasifier and Farmall H

Some of you may remember me from three years ago when I was in Iraq. These days I am back in Michigan working on producers again. I have a Farmall "H" with a buzzsaw attached to the front of the tractor. The engine is powered by a hand built producer of Doug Williams' design (see Fluidyne pioneer class) which is fueled by blocks cut by the saw. I am sawing scrap slab wood for home heating and power production. Now that the "H" is up and working, I am proceeding to build a producer to power a 1964 GMC 1-ton pickup (305E V-6 engine) to be fueled by blocks from the "H".

Unfortunately, I had to quickly slap this producer together to cut wood for heating our house.The high fuel prices have cut me off from my own supply of wood at the bush. So I had to shift to heating with slabs from a sawmill. The Farmall is merely a way of processing the firewood for the house and also a way of making blocks for a truck mounted producer. Its not a pie in the sky type project but more of a practical necessity for our continued survival. Regardless of the source of inspiration, I am riding a euphoric crest and proceeding as fast as I can.

Two other related endeavers are the compression and storage of gas while simultaneously burning gas from the same producer, in a generating plant. I have most of the pieces but am proceeding with securing my fuel source first.

I would like to thank Thomas B. Reed for making available the peripheral information and also the fellows at VEDBIL.SE for their inspiring U-tube videos, and of course G. Bush Inc. for their motivational fuel pricing.

I am one of the poorest citizens of the US so I am the first to feel the change in the US culture with regards to transportation costs. I grieved my truck and walked for a while. Then realized I would rather do something about it rather than despair and watch TV. So this is a message from the bottom to the more affluent yet still vulnerable folks on the list, you too can continue on with minor inconvenience. Its unfortunate that most people won't do anything until its too late.

Thanks Bruce P. Jackson

SMALL-SCALE LUMBER DRYING USING WOOD GASIFICATION AS A HEAT SOURCE

Last updated November 04, 2008

SMALL-SCALE LUMBER DRYING USING WOOD GASIFICATION AS A HEAT SOURCE
Richard D. Bergman, USDA Forest Service, Madison, Wisconsin, Western Dry Kiln Association, May, 2005

ABSTRACT
Small, rural forested communities have the economic need to develop a wood products industry to replace the loss of large sawmills and maintain forest health. The main
objective of this study was to explore the potential of using producer (wood) gas to fire a hot water boiler for a small dry kiln capable of drying both softwood and hardwood lumber.
A BioMax wood gasifier, a hot water boiler, and dry kiln were integrated as parts of a whole lumber drying system for a field test in southwestern United States. Results so far found the amount of gas heat produced from the wood chip-fed BioMax 15 and 50 is
250,000 and 1,000,000 Btus per hour respectively, while the hot water boiler provides 109,000 Btus per hour for a 3,500 board foot dry kiln.

Small Modular Biomass Gasification

Last updated January 01, 2008

Small Modular Biomass Gasification
Rob Rizzo,Mt Wachusetts Community College,Biomass Combined Heat & Power For Delmarva, Dover, Delaware, June 12, 2007

Biomax 50
-50 kWe combined heat and power
-Thermal energy for heat
-Thermal energy for absorption chiller
-Electricity: 8.1 liter GM turbocharged stationary engine with genset
-24/6 operation
-No additional staffing
-transparent
-1.5 tons/day green chips consumption
-Seeking funding for other prime movers

Operating the BioMax 50 System
(Emergency Shutdown)
-Emergency Shutdown
-Kills power to all electrical devices
-Shuts the feed gate
-Emergencies
-Gas Cooling Blower Failure
-Engine and Roots blower failure
-System clogged

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