Can a car really run on woodchips? This week on Car Talk, we got a call from a rather remarkable gentleman -- Hans, who escaped from Germany during World War II in car that ran on, yes, woodchips. His question: How does it work? Our humble hosts weren't exactly sure, but we bet someone out there…

Lots of Google hits on this question. The one above had all the elements the called mentioned.

The device Hans asked about is called a “digester”. It produced methane from the breakdown of the cellulose in the wood. Plans (albeilt old) are still available from Lindsey Publications - a cool place for old technical stuff. BTW, I have no affiliation with them - I just like their stuff. Joe

[image] World War II Cars: Producer Gas Vehicles - Green Transportation - MOTHER EARTH... One MOTHER EARTH NEWS reader shares his experience with using producer gas vehicles in Germany during World War II. I read about this many years ago in a history of Volkswag…

Thanks, JimAAtGaTech! I am surprised Click and Clack don’t keep a computer fired up and look up this kind of info, but I guess it’s because they’d rather let us have the fun. Here’s a link I found: http://strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us/HOLZBRENNER%20VOLKSWAGENS.htm

yep, I’ve heard of this before, both in WWII and recently - look up “wood gas” in wikipedia.

Very simple! [image] Wood gas Wood gas is a syngas fuel which can be used as a fuel for furnaces, stoves and vehicles in place of gasoline, diesel or other fuels. During the production process biomass or other carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited environment …

I saw one of these at the Peterson Automotive museum in Los Angeles. It’s a beautiful truck. There’s a picture in the link below: [image] The Petersen Automotive Museum - Custom Classic Trucks Magazine The Petersen Automotive Museum is a great vacation destination in Southern California …

Wood gasification! Check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas Which also suggests the weekly emissions on Saturdays between 10:00 and 11:00 AM in “our fair city” would be even more highly combustible - no open flames in the studio, ok?

also check out for more current applications of this technology: http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2010/03/wood-burning-cars.html

Hans is not crazy. GM, Ford and Mercedes manufactured wood gas mobiles during WWII. They operate by passing oxygen and water vapor over coals. The carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide and water vapor is reduced to hydrogen - then both gases can be burned in a standard internal combustion …

A Woodchip-mobile?

The Show

seifried January 7, 2012, 8:53pm 8

Very simple!

Don’t the guys know that CO can be oxidized further?? There is such a thing as CO2.

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A Woodchip-mobile?

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