Wood-Burning Vehicles?

[max2cam]

I know they exist, or did exist during WWII when the Germans didn't have enough fuel to run their vehicles on. They had an on-board wood-gasification unit and combusted the scrubbed "smoke" in the cylinders. It's no joke. This really does work!

Wouldn't that be fun to have? Who is going to be the first guy here to build a wood-fueled car, truck, or motorcycle to impress your friends and amaze your neighbors?

Ironically, here in Wis. at least you'd be subjected to paying a motor fuel tax on the wood used. I say this because they went after a guy who was fueling his car with french fry oil and made him pay the motor fuel tax!

 

[habanero]

In many states, you can use up to so many gallons of "alternative fuel" (i.e. biodiesel or WVO) before being taxed. I'm not sure how they'd equate that to wood, though.

I've played around with gasifiers and have a little B&S engine just waiting on me to build a gasifier for-but I've been too busy since moving last year to get to work on it. It's only a 5 hp motor, so it probably wouldn't even pull the weight of the gasifier around. But, it might be fun to hook up to a little generator or something, though.

 

[windthrown]

There are a few wood fired vehicles out there. I forget the threads, but some are steam powered, and some are gassifier powered. Some are also methanol powered. I think the gassifier one was a converted VW with a trailer for wood. That is the other factor; not only do you have to drag a wood steam engine or gassifier around with you, but also a trailer with wood around with you. Wood is heavy. Methanol would be easy to make and lighter to drag around in a vehicle, and it would not take much conversion to run in an auto engine. It may be low energy, but its energy.

 

[spike60]

There is an episode of COMBAT! where they actually used a vintage wood burning truck. They drive this thing through about half the show. You can see the fire burning in a few scenes. I think it was from the second season and I'll try to post the episode title later tonight. Maybe I'll watch it; I've got all 5 seasons on DVD.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

...
Ironically, here in Wis. at least you'd be subjected to paying a motor fuel tax on the wood used. I say this because they went after a guy who was fueling his car with french fry oil and made him pay the motor fuel tax!

I wonder how they would figure the taxes for this ? by the distance traveled powered by smoke or by the BTU's consumed. You can bet the figure they come up with would make you think they were doing some smoking of their own. And could you get away with stating that the fuel taxes had already been paid when you purchased road fuel for your saws and the distance traveled off road on some of this same fuel to get back in to where the wood was gathered?

There is quite a bit of info on wood gassification available. The reading I have done on it notes that downdraft gassifiers produce the best and cleanest 'smoke'. The ash particles still need filtered but the tars and creosote are further broken down after passing through the bed of glowing charcoal. It would be interesting to hear of anyone here getting reliable results and posting pictures of their success.

 

[Rookie1]

My wifes uncle was in the Army and occupied Japan after the War. He told me about cars that ran on wood. I thought he meant steam but seen drawings of gasifiers on cars and realized what he meant. It would be cool to see one work.

 

[max2cam]

In many states, you can use up to so many gallons of "alternative fuel" (i.e. biodiesel or WVO) before being taxed. I'm not sure how they'd equate that to wood, though.

I've played around with gasifiers and have a little B&S engine just waiting on me to build a gasifier for-but I've been too busy since moving last year to get to work on it. It's only a 5 hp motor, so it probably wouldn't even pull the weight of the gasifier around. But, it might be fun to hook up to a little generator or something, though.

It would great way to experiment and get the process down right. Did you find plans to build a wood-gasifier?

Years ago I bought plans from Mother Eaath News. Never built a unit tho.

 

[max2cam]

My wifes uncle was in the Army and occupied Japan after the War. He told me about cars that ran on wood. I thought he meant steam but seen drawings of gasifiers on cars and realized what he meant. It would be cool to see one work.

It sure would be cool to see one work. Even more cool to have one. I wonder how much wood-per-mile you would need? Guessing a lot...

 

[max2cam]

There are a few wood fired vehicles out there. I forget the threads, but some are steam powered, and some are gassifier powered. Some are also methanol powered. I think the gassifier one was a converted VW with a trailer for wood. That is the other factor; not only do you have to drag a wood steam engine or gassifier around with you, but also a trailer with wood around with you. Wood is heavy. Methanol would be easy to make and lighter to drag around in a vehicle, and it would not take much conversion to run in an auto engine. It may be low energy, but its energy.

Yes, you'd need a ton of wood to go anywhere. I was mainly thinking about it as freak. But bringing up methanol makes a guy a wonder if someday there will be simple home-brew process to easily make high quality auto fuel from wood. I should look into methanol, but if it were easy and worked well everybody would be making it. Seems like the research now is to find a way to make ethanol from wood biomass.

 

[MS-310]

Yahoo group, there is a great one on wood gas, trust me you will find every thing out. I have built a small one and now when I get time to build a bigger one.

 

[max2cam]

Yahoo group, there is a great one on wood gas, trust me you will find every thing out. I have built a small one and now when I get time to build a bigger one.

Thanks for the tip. I joined that group. Don't know if I'll actually build a wood gasifier, but I do have unlimited amounts of bio-fuel on my 30 acres. Will have to figure out if I have a real need for a gasifier first. What would be a practical application for it? A vehicle would be a "freak" at this point, but there may be some other rationale for one.

 

[oldchuck]

Gassification doesn't appeal to me too much for running a vehicle for the reasons already stated. However, considering we now own a good sized chunk of forest that is a long and expensive run from power lines, the idea of a wood gas powered generator is attractive. About the best directions for building such a creature I've run across is from a few years ago and is vehicle oriented but I don't see why it couldn't apply to a stationary engine as well.

http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Gassification doesn't appeal to me too much for running a vehicle for the reasons already stated. However, considering we now own a good sized chunk of forest that is a long and expensive run from power lines, the idea of a wood gas powered generator is attractive. About the best directions for building such a creature I've run across is from a few years ago and is vehicle oriented but I don't see why it couldn't apply to a stationary engine as well.

http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml

http://www.fao.org/docrep/Q4960e/q4960e04.htm might be of some interest to someone trying to generate eletricity from wood gas. I read about this a year ago but had to search again to find it here http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...generator+village+saw+mill&btnG=Google+Search

 

[oldchuck]

Thanks for the links. Interesting I can buy a 12 KW engine in the Philippines but I can't buy one here. Lots of reports and studies though...

 

[Backwoods]

Woodmizer just introduced 2 new sawdust burners. Converting the energy that they produce either in the form of electricity or gasification could be a viable option. Maybe even grant worthy. Now is the time to dust off those proto types that every one has been working on since the 70’s like the heating of the fuel prior to injection. Then get some grant money to develop it a little further and sell 50 percent interest in it to some one that has the financial backing to put it into production.

Heck maybe now that the energy companies have had a few boom quarters they will be able to start building some new state of the art refineries that can produce a finer grade of fuel that would give better mileage.

With the cost of fuel climbing so rapidly it has made several option that were to expensive in the past seem to be a bargain now and can now be explored more at a cost effective rate. If fuel costs remain high over the next decade, the next generation of vehicles will show it. Propane is becoming more of an option.

I am looking into running my mill on biodiesel rather then off road diesel.

 

[oldchuck]

I'm wondering what purpose those Woodmizer sawdust burners are for. Electricity?

Propane, gasoline, diesel all run neck and neck. Basically the same stuff.

I can get a 55 gallon drum of biodiesel around here for $3.15 a gallon and I fully intend to.

 

[Backwoods]

Co-gen!!! Heat turns impeler, turning generator, producing electricty.

 

[Patrick62]

Go for it!

If I had more time, I might be tempted to do this as well!

Get a few wood cookers chugging around, and I guarantee that some earth first schmuck is gonna cry foul!

What do you think the "emissions" are gonna look like? Do you think it is gonna pass enviro-test ?? Plug them filters up right nicely.....

Steam? Again, someone is gonna bellyache about it. This turkey is burning wood (oil, propane, booze, etc) and running on steam! How much pressure is in that boiler? Was it certified by the ASME ???

Mostly folks are gonna be whining about it because you are driving, and they are not.

Actually I think that a producer gas vehicle would not take all that darn much wood because you get a LOT of smoke from a smoldering fire. Other than the hassle of stoking, cleaning, adjusting, and operating the thing, it wears the engine out in a hurry. No matter how goor your filters are, the life span of the engine pretty sad.

-Pat

 

[oldchuck]

and I guarantee that some earth first schmuck is gonna cry foul!

What do you think the "emissions" are gonna look like? Do you think it is gonna pass enviro-test ?? Plug them filters up right nicely.....

Actually I think that a producer gas vehicle would not take all that darn much wood because you get a LOT of smoke from a smoldering fire. Other than the hassle of stoking, cleaning, adjusting, and operating the thing, it wears the engine out in a hurry. No matter how goor your filters are, the life span of the engine pretty sad.

-Pat

Pat - I guarantee you that "earth first schmucks" don't run the government around here. We are nearly ALL interested in environmental quality.

From what I understand a decent wood gas generator would produce almost no air pollution and would therefore be an environmental plus.

Sounds like you have some experience with the creatures and your comments on engine wear deserve attention. How serious is it?

I tried to look up the Woodmizer Bio-Mizer product but they have taken all their information about it off their web site.

 

[ken45]

For a vehicle, perhaps pellet fuel would make more sense than cordwood. Pellets would be easier to start, feed, regulate and shut down.

Another alternative would be a horse powered (not drawn, powered) vehicle. I saw something recently where someone has a horse on a treadmill propelling the vehicle.

Just think of the ingenuity we could see if fuel prices continue to climb for the next ten years like they have during the past year (yikes!)

The Wall Street Journal just had an article about how motor scooters are gaining popularity as commuter vehicles.

Ken