A wood gas generator is a gasification unit which converts timber or charcoal into wood gas, a syngas consisting of atmospheric nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, traces of methane, and other gases, which – after cooling and filtering – can then be used to power an internal combustion engine or for other purposes.
source/image: Experimental Fun
When wood is heated it releases a few different types of flammable gases, I use a homemade gasifier to extract these gases out of the wood, I first run the gas through a condenser coil to condense any steam and tar out of the gas.
Part 1: How to Make a Generator that Runs on Wood
I then use a bubble filter to catch that water and tar and it also helps in filtering out some of the unwanted smoke, next the gas runs through a homemade filter to remove the last of the unwanted byproducts, The wood gas then runs directly into the air intake on the 25cc engine.
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This was only my first test. It seems the wood was a bit wet and I also didn’t let the gasifier stay hot long enough, this caused the gas production to be very inconsistent and the engine to only run for a few minutes at a time.
Part 2: How to Run a Generator on Trash!
This was a fun experiment, Its not perfect but its good for demonstration on the basics of gasifiers. The Air blower I added worked good and got it nice and hot, its mostly just needed in the beginning and once the gas production went up I was able to leave it off. The smoke that was passing through the bubble filters wasn’t good for the engine but it still runs fine, ill make a better filter next time I use it.
