Electricity from wood waste. WOODGAS POWERED VW'S AND OTHER VEHICLES - Fuel shortages during WWII prompted searches for alternative fuels in England, Germany, Scandinavia and many other countries. One of the most unusual solutions involved the modification of vehicles for use with wood, charcoal, or coal. Typical modifications included A) a gas generator; B) a gas reservoir; and C) carburetor modifications and additional plumbing to convey, filter, and meter the gas into the engine. The gas generator was an airtight vessel into which was introduced a charge of wood, charcoal, or anthracite coal. Heat was applied to the fuel either internally or externally to initiate a self-sustaining gasification of the fuel in an oxygen deprived environment.
The resulting "woodgas" was piped to the reservoir, or in the case of small engines, directly to the engine carburetor. Gas reservoir sizes depended upon vehicle, engine, and gasifier size. The gas is produced by partial combustion of the wood. Info: RCRA - Renewable Carbon Resources Australia. SOLVE: MINERAL PROCESSING: Green Steel. MINERAL PROCESSING: Green Steel By Julian Cribb In the race to slash greenhouse emissions from making iron and steel, Australia holds an ace – trees already planted to combat salinity.
Wood has been used to make iron for more than 3300 years and steel for almost 1000 years, and in the 21st century its time may have come again. Iron and steel consume 19 per cent of the world’s industrial energy and generate 26 per cent of industrial greenhouse emissions, representing six per cent of total anthropogenic greenhouse emissions (those caused by human activity). Japan’s low-temperature compact blast furnace and Europe’s ULCOS (ultra-low CO2 steel) nitrogen-free furnace are among the radical approaches being trialled to lower the carbon intensity of ironmaking. The quest for cleaner fuels and reductants (reducing agents) has thrown the spotlight on a major new resource: oil mallee trees or other native hardwoods, grown in plantations and turned into charcoal.
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