Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:15:27 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Is Wood/Gas Possible for For Vanagons
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=no
On the other hand, one can produce a kind of gasoline by destructive
distillation of biomass, initiating with very high temps, in a backyard
contraption. The stuff does work. I'll do some googling around and
probably find info online. David Mc
On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 5:48 PM, David Beierl wrote:
> At 11:23 AM 1/20/2010, John Rodgers wrote:
>> adaptable to my van. Then I stumbled across this. Pretty interesting
>> stuff.
>
> Of course it's possible. But I promise you wouldn't like it. With
> the existing engine I sincerely doubt that a Vanagon could get up to
> the minimum speed (45 mph) to run on highways, although if you filled
> the entire interior with wood pellets and a stoking mechanism you
> could probably get decent range.
>
> Producer gas is 20-30% carbon monoxide which is ninety-five times
> more attractive to hemoglobin than oxygen is; small concentrations
> will sneak up and kill you because the oxygen can't compete, and high
> concentrations IIRC cause abrupt and total respiratory failure. Your
> relatives will have the consolation that your corpse will be a nice
> healthy pink, since carboxyhemoglobin is a much brighter red than
> oxyhemoglobin -- that's one of the diagnostic signs, in
> fact. Producer gas (made from coal, normally) used to be used as
> city gas, which is why suicide by oven was in favor at the time --
> quick, quiet, reliable, not too painful. It's rumored that in some
> Eastern European countries under Communism, the police would turn off
> the gas to an entire street before they made their raid, so you can
> imagine how fast the stuff must have acted.
>
> Until our cities are bombed out and/or some other terrific disaster
> strikes and we have to suddenly convert an existing fleet of
> IC-engine vehicles to direct-biomass fuel without replacing the
> engines, I officially suggest that using producer gas for vehicles is
> a Friday subject.
>
> The Stanley Steamer OTOH had a very nice flash boiler and I believe
> it could get up steam in about a minute from a standing start (using
> liquid fuel presumably). Twenty-five years ago or so Saab was
> thinking about a steam-powered vehicle and I believe they followed at
> least somewhat along the lines of the Stanley. I suggest not
> considering steam turbines -- they are extremely successful in large
> ships, but had an utterly disastrous history in railroads because of
> vibration and shock.
>
> Yours,
> David
> [/hat]
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