Gasifier Experimenters Kit

Biomass Energy Foundation: HistoryOld & Modern GasifiersOn March 9, 2001 I visited a Mr. Mel Strand at his home in Boulder, CO. Mel was born inMinneapolis, but during WWII he was stranded in Norway during the occupation and drove agasifier truck - delivering groceries in the day and weapons to the underground at night.Mel returned to the U.S. after the war and his career has been in machining and fabrication. As ahobby a few years ago he decided to construct the gasifier he remembered it from a 1948 Chevypickup. What a beauty he made!Mel turned on the auxiliary starting fan, and started the gasifier on large aspen chunks with anewspaper. After a few minutes he lit the gas at the front of the truck and started the engine. Wedrove around Colorado Springs for several hours. I realized what an art it was to drive a gasifiercar, since he could control the spark advance, air fuel ratio and throttle, all from the steeringcolumn, while talking about the old and new days.Modern Small GasifiersA great deal of development of gasifiers is going on around theworld.In 1999 I collaborated with the company Community Power, CPC,Corporation, CPC, to build a 5 kW "Turnkey, Tarfree" gasifier usingnew principles I had discovered and learned. The picture at theright shows Kurt Kirscher, Shivayam Ellis, myself, Agua Das andRobb Walt (President of CPC) outside my laboratory.http://www.woodgas.com/history.htm (2 of 4) [10/9/2008 08:23:07]