A “science for boys” type book I had around 1950 had the following experiment. Take a metal Calumet can and fill it with wood sticks. Punch a hole in the lid with a nail. Set this on the stove and cook the wood. When fumes start coming out the hole, light it with a match. It makes a nice blue flame. When it stops making ths gas, let it cool down and you have a can full of nice charcoal sticks you can either burn or use to draw pictures.
I’m absolutely dazzled by your ignorance of both the history and the chemistry of the question. As I recall, at least one of you studied a bit of chemistry, so the subject of destructive distillation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destructive_distillation) should not be unknown to you. In destructive distillation of wood (chips in this case) the wood is heated (by a small inefficient fire, in this case) and larger organic molecules are “cracked”, broken in smaller, simpler molecules, which are driven off as a vapor (containing guaiacol, tar, terpenes, turpentine and methanol, and other flammables you would identify as “smoke”), which is piped to the throttle body of an ordinary gasoline engine, where it is burned for power. It really doesn’t matter what gases are present, or in what proportions; that changes with the kind of wood, and they are all flammable.
The process is so old and so well documented that it gives methanol its other name, “wood alcohol”, as destructive distillation was an early way of producing methanol.
As for World War II, it was in all the papers.
Sheees!
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/01/wood-gas-cars.html to see actual vehicles!!!
Wood gasification is a proces whereby organic material is converted into a combustible gas under the influence of heat - the process reaches a temperature of 1,400 °C (2,550 °F). The first use of wood gasification dates back to 1870s, when it was used as a forerunner of natural gas for street lighting and cooking.
In the 1920s, German engineer Georges Imbert developed a wood gas generator for mobile use. The gases were cleaned and dried and then fed into the vehicle’s combustion engine, which barely needs to be adapted. The Imbert generator was mass produced from 1931 on. At the end of the 1930s, about 9,000 wood gas vehicles were in use, almost exclusively in Europe.
Second World War
The technology became commonplace in many European countries during the Second World War, as a consequence of the rationing of fossil fuels. In Germany alone, around 500,000 producer gas vehicles were in operation by the end of the war.
A network of some 3,000 “petrol stations” was set up, where drivers could stock up on firewood. Not only private cars but also trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, ships and trains were equipped with a wood gasification unit. Some tanks were driven on wood gas, too, but for military use the Germans preferred the production of liquid synthetic fuels (made out of wood or coal).
In 1942 (when the technology had not yet reached the height of its popularity), there were about 73,000 producer gas vehicles in Sweden, 65,000 in France, 10,000 in Denmark, 9,000 in both Austria and Norway, and almost 8,000 in Switzerland. Finland had 43,000 “woodmobiles” in 1944, of which 30,000 were buses and trucks, 7,000 private vehicles, 4,000 tractors and 600 boats. (source).
Woodmobiles also appeared in the US, Asia and, particularly, Australia, which had 72,000 vehicles running on woodgas (source). Altogether, more than one million producer gas vehicles were used during World War Two.
After the war, with gasoline once again available, the technology fell into oblivion almost instantaneously. At the beginning of the 1950s, the then West-Germany only had some 20,000 woodmobiles left.
Research programme in Sweden
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Jacqui Tanner
To “Zymurgy Bob”: give 'em a break; the Car Talk guys did say correctly that the generator must have been generating alcohol.
10 years ago I had the opportunity to see a device that produced electricity by burning coconut shells that powered a V-8 engine attached to a generator. It was being sent to a third world country that had more coconuts than petroleum.
There is an in depth discussion of wood powered cars using wood gasifiers on wikipedia under, not surprisingly, “wood powered cars”. It references their extensive use in the WWII years in Germany and elsewhere.
See also “wood gas” at Wikipedia.
Nice discussion of German and N.Korean technology on this. But, I believe that Hans said he recalled Russian vehicle. Anybody find anything on a Russian model? When I first heard the broadcast I immediately that it sounded very much like the old, practical Russian ingenuity that I admire.
This is in response to the wood burning car guy Hans. It is all over Google with references to this. New one on me too! Ford & Gm did this, apparently.
This is a response to Hans who brought up wood burning cars during ww2. See the link above. Google had a whole bunch of references to wood burning cars. I’m surprised you guys dont have someone googling in the background when someone asks a goofy question like this. Course, I’m at work listening to you guys, so I should talk! LOVE the show guys, long time listener! Thanks! I learn something new every week!
Hans is absolutely right! I also remember the “wood gas” cars and light trucks very common in Germany during WWII and for 3 years after the war. Gasoline was scarce and for driving the wood gas converters were the only way for people to drive for most people. A wood gas converter, the size of a larger water heater, was added behing the driver cabin on open bed trucks, and sometimes on passenger cars. The gas was fed into the vehicle’s regular gasoline engin. I still remember the beutiful heat those wood gas converters gave off when parked in the cold winters when that was a luxury. The converters were fed from the top with wood chips the size of match boxes. Every truck always had several of these wood chip bags on the loading area for refuelling. During the 1979 gas shortages I wondered why not some enterprizing car nuts in forestry areas were not doing the same.
The wood chip run car uses what is known as a producer gas generator. A description may be seen on wikipedia at; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator I know someont that has made a few of these vehicles as well as electrical generators that ran on one. He used corn, wood or even cherry pits from a nearby orchard. Here are a few photos of his creations.
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/51237
All you you need is your axe for a cross country trip
I was part of WWII occupation forces in Germany. I rode in quite a few taxis in Frankfurt that were powered by what looked like a large hot water tank strapped to the rear of the vehicle. I do know they were fueled by wood. The engine sounded like a normal gasolene engine running. How they worked, I don’t know. I do know they had very weak power. Even a modestly steep hill the driver had to use 1st gear and you crossed your fingers hoping the car would make it to the top of the hill.
there is a swedish book called “gengas” that is generally considered the"bible"on operating piston engine on partially combusted wood. ISBN 0-942914-01-5
One more set of references:
http://biomassenergyfndn.org/bef/storefront/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14
Tom and Ray should have remembered coal gas. Where I grew up in Portland, ME, there was a “gas works” down by the waterfront that created gas for cooking and heating (and maybe illumination at one time). The gas was produced by “coking” coal. This coal gas was piped throughout the city. It was some time in the late '50’s or early '60’s that they switched over to natural gas. Everyone had to have their burners and pilot lights recalibrated for the different fuel.
Surprised you fellows, being both car guys and MIT grads, are not familiar with this subject. See, for example:
http://hittingredline.com/content/wood-fired-producer-gas-vehicles-during-world-war-ii
Alaskossie, Anchorage, Alaska
Great story by Hans. My uncle drove an Opel Blitz converted to a bus in Norway during WWII. The Blitz had a wood gas generator just as described by Hans. The system works by burning wood with limited oxygen supply (controlled by the flap that Hans mentioned), thus rich combustion. In this system, the products of combustion contained high amounts of CO. This was then used as the fuel for the engine where the carbon monoxide was further oxidized to carbon dioxide. The heating value of CO is just a fraction of that for gasoline and the engine’s power was greatly reduced. In fact, my uncle would open the bus door on the steep hills on his route in Halden Norway when the speed was reduced to just a crawl. A few of the stronger men would then jump out out and push the bus - no command needed, the passengers just knew the routine.
BTW I believe Nicolaus Otto’s engine indeed ran on Gasoline. Rudolf Diesel invented the compression ignition engine which initially operated on coal dust until Bosch invented the high pressure injection system for liquid fuels.
This process has been known since 1836. For those who want more history and like diagrams of this process (as well as some cool photos of vehicles that run/have run using this process) check out this link:
http://www.knowledgepublications.com/978-1-60322-027-9_detail_page.htm
I’ve seen the power plant mentioned in the article in Bora Bora. Oil they don’t have… coconut husks they do.