Gasifier Experimenters Kit

Biomass Energy Foundation: HistoryHISTORY OF WOODGASHomeBiomassEnergyGasification &ReformingLiquid FuelsWoodCookingEnergyRosetta StoneBookstoreAbout theBEFLinksBecome aMemberof theBiomassEnergyFoundation"Woodgas" is my name for the various gases that can be easily made from wood or biomass.Various forms are: synthesis gas, typically 40% hydrogen, H2, 40% carbon monoxide, CO, 3%methane, and 17% Carbon dioxide; producer gas, made by gasifying biomass with air (andtherefore containing ~50% nitrogen); pyrolysis gas, similar to synthesis gas, but including lots orwater and tar and accompanied by production of 10-30% charcoal.The Industrial Revolution was fueled by gas starting in 1800 (primarily from coal by pyrolysis)initially used for city and home lighting, then for cooking and power generation. Coke for steelmaking was a useful by-product. By 1850, the major cities of the world had "gaslight" (see Dickensnovels). The internal combustion engine was invented to make electricity from producer gas about1880. See all the wonderful old coal systems in our book "Modern Gas Producers" on ourBooks page. All of this changed starting in 1930, when welded pipelines brought natural gasfrom oil wells to our houses and now few of us remember the producer gas (manufactured gas, citygas, water gas etc.) era.During World War II over a million gasifiers were built for the civilian sector while the military usedup all the gasoline. Now that world oil supplies are being depleted and global warming is perceivedas a threat to our environment, there is renewed interest in gas from BIOMASS. The NationalAcademy of Sciences published a great booklet on "Producer Gas: Another Fuel for MotorTransport" in 1983, and we are into our third printing at the BEF PRESS (see BEF Books).We show here a few interesting old pictures from that book. (Click each thumbnail to view largeand return here with Back button)and a few more modern ones from the late 1970s-early 80s.http://www.woodgas.com/history.htm (1 of 4) [10/9/2008 08:23:07]