My little piece of peace

Stories I was told of times during the Great Depression - cars were fuelled with "Producer gas", which was made by burning wood-chips in an air-starved environment and fed to the carburettor as a gas - cars then ran on it OK - a bucket of dry-combustible matter gave about 10 to 30 miles according to some reports I read 40 to 50 years ago... - sort of like making charcoal but keeping and using the gas given off... - the by-product, (charcoal), if doused with water may be close-enough to "activated charcoal", to mix with compost and make "Terra-prate" for your garden - be careful as the fresh charcoal is far too harsh to put on a growing garden... It needs to absorb all the trace nutrients from the compost, chook-poop, peelings and other stuff and to mellow significantly to be of real use and benefit long term... It also permanently sequesters Carbon (in the charcoal)...

Looking at the predictions http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/viewer/index.shtml?type=sigWaveHgt&tz=AEST&area=Au&model=CG and at http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/cha...e=windbarb&level=10m&tz=AEST&area=Au&model=CG then Tuesday and onward look very propitious and with slight seas with less than 1 M swell ... The delay was beneficial... I bought some wire, 12v globes probes and small alligator clips to do the testing, so we will see where the fault lies over the weekend...

Tonight we are off to see a school fund-raiser of "The fiddler on the roof" - and is one of the good wife's birthdays... Passport and other documents reflect earlier dates to overcome educational bureaucratic interference in academic commencement dates for school children... 3 months earlier than this one which is the "actual date"...

 

bingo
pyrolysis results in carbon, diesel and a volatile gas that can be used in gasoline type engines. Depends on the temperature of the reaction chamber. 350°C seems to be the magic number. At least when running PET flakes which is what I want to do.

 

Pyrolysis is an interesting reaction. I have been planning to make myself a small setup of combined heat and power for a couple of years now. As the prices keep on rising, it becomes increasingly tempting. I have wood to burn.

In a well working pyrolysis you get methane, hydrogen, tars and what is left, is mostly ash, no coal and no diesel.

And the temp in the reduction zone should be as high as 800*C to brake apart the tars and moisture into as much hydrogen as possible.

Lot of people around the world are experimenting with pyrolysis in automotive use, and a lot of info online.

Lurvio

 

ah but that is if you use wood, I was thinking of using waste plastic. PET flakes are cheap and if your not near a plastics recycling facility then consider that the world is flooded with plastic. One morning on the beach and I've got enough plastic to fuel my boat for weeks and I'm helping clean up the scourge of the oceans .

polyethylene breaks down nearly lb for lb into diesel.

 

Ah, I did read the end of your post, but it didn't register in the brain.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but around here the plastic waste is pretty mixed, PE, PS, PP and a couple of others. PVC is a nasty one, burniing in free air it produces Hydrogen Chloride (Hydrochloric acid).

Maybe someone should put a large conveyer to an ocean capable barge and start collecting and refining the plastic waste in the oceans. Shouldn't be long before it becomes profitable with the way things are going.

Highjacking the thread just a little.
Lurvio

 

nah Mas was planing on using alternative fuels. Around here they separate out he various plastics at the recycling centers, I can buy whats called PET flakes ( shredded, graded plastics) for something like $50 a ton depends on how much I'm buying. PVC is about the only one you cant reclaim into fuel and it releases a lot worse than just acid, serious carcinogens are involved with that one. They pyrolysis system is designed to work at high temps in a no oxygen environment so nothing actually burns, it dissociates which is why you end up with diesel fuel cause its just a shorter version of the raw oil molecule.

Anyway long story short if you knew what you were looking for, it wouldn't be hard to collect enough of the right kind of plastic to produce plenty of fuel, off just about any beach in the world at this point.

Hey Mas looks like ( I read those two articles ) they treat coconut oil just like any other vegi oil.

 

Hi Boston,
Some do some don't... Some vege oils must be "refined" to make it chemically usable... Some engines demand that treatment of coconut oil but the good old Toyota Landcruiser and I am told the small Kubota can take it neat...

There is a possibility, that the Kubota may require preheating to about 70 deg Celsius which demands some caution as it gets diesel fuel pretty close to its flash point... Coconut oil has a flash point considerably higher than that... GEC "politics" is getting all religious - have a read of this essay www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25080 - Who owns what at the top end - - - - I don't get Hoyts' joke, ending with, - ""Don't touch me! I'm on long term disability.""

 

Nah I didn't really read it, he seems on some kind of bender lately. Been taking points every chance the system allows it on at least several folks and just generally making a pain in the *** of himself. Seems vindictive about something now that I read it but no clue what.

Having read the articles I notice they note a build up in engines that run on straight untreated vegi oil unless you clear them on diesel, kinda spooky, I have the two tank system in my truck but I don't always remember to switch tanks over. My bad. I'm betting there is an additive that will prevent that but I haven't gone looking for it yet.

Filled up the big tank with oil yesterday, 200 gallons, would have cost me almost $900 had it been diesel. Going to do some filtering today while I put a new drivers side seat it. I haven't got a heater yet on this system but I'm working on it. Once I get this thing all dialed in and running it will make up for my wrecked car and from there I can get back to working on my build. I'm thinking I'll not be spending on fuel if I can help it. Between the waste oils and the pyrolysis system I should have plenty of fuel. I'm all about the pacific northwest so not much sailing in my future.

Best of luck tracing that electrical issue. My bet it its something simple

cheers
B

 

you might appreciate this article Mas

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/201106...jbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNpc2F1c3RyYWxpYTM-

 

I guess you'll be sorely disappointed, if the world economy hasn't collapsed a few years from now.

But that's OK. What you're doing doesn't really need any justification anyway.... it's worth doing for its own sake. Good luck to you on your maiden voyage.

 

I think your preaching to the choir

Troy what makes you think things aren't falling apart. Energy is going back through the roof and this time whats to stop it. Personally I couldn't afford to drive that huge truck of mine if it weren't for free fuel.

 

sigh - totally unbelievable more like it, worse luck.

Thats about the 500th "my friend has invented story ..." I have read over the years.

 

Those HHO or similar engines are everywhere and the fuel takes a lot of energy to produce. Its probably not as viable as you think. But the good news is that perfectly viable forms of alternative energy are pretty much everywhere, its just that most folks find it inconvenient to use them. Even a basic two tank system like whats in my truck is kinda a pain in the ***. I'm streamlining it so its not so bad but still its not really free when ya have to spend three or four hours off collecting fuel and all the little stuff that goes into it. For me its worth it but a lot of people just don't have the inclination or the ingenuity to pull it off.

Here's the big tank about half way done, tomorrow I'm building a headache rack and a cage that fits over all that filter stiff so it doesn't get trashed by anything floating around in the bed. Also a removable cross bar over the rear tailgate so I can both carry stuff and hook up the fifth wheel.

 

nice job, boston. looks very tidy

 

Boston, I'm 62 years old--and for my entire life, I've been hearing doomsayers tell us the end of civilization is coming any day now. I give them about as much attention as I give the preachers who tell us the Rapture is nigh. The preachers are trying to sell us blue sky, and the doomsayers are trying to sell us shiny gold.

Is the world economy a mess? Of course it is. It's always a mess, and it lurches from one crisis to another. But Earth isn't collapsing into chaos and savagery this week or next; civilization isn't teetering on the verge of extinction.

As far as energy prices go, you should check out the history of gasoline prices before you get too lathered up. I don't like paying four dollars a gallon a damn bit, but filling up my tank actually costs me a smaller percentage of my real income than it did thirty years ago--and I get twice as many miles per gallon as I was getting back then.