Midwest Permaculture website shares how wood can be transformed and be piped directly into an internal combustion engine as a fuel substitute for gasoline.
Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2). This is achieved by reacting the feedstock material at high temperatures (typically >700 °C), without combustion, via controlling the amount of oxygen and/or steam present in the reaction.
WOOD GASIFICATION IS GOOD FOR:
- Running trucks, tractors and other vehicles and machinery
- Generating heat and electricity in the winter for greenhouses and homes
- Being able to harvest the energy from sunlight stored in woody plants, from our own land
- Using the waste product, biochar, to increase the fertility of our gardens and food forests which will also be pulling excess Co2 out of the atmosphere and locking it up
Why use wood?
Wood is the ideal fuel for rural heating in Maine, especially if you own a woodlot. Firewood harvests are an opportunity to improve the forest when you remove dead, dying, diseased and poorly formed trees. This enables residual trees to grow faster, produce more oxygen and use more CO2 greenhouse gases.
If you are a gardener, wood ash adds calcium, potassium, other nutrients and bio-char to the soil. BUT make sure to apply these only after and according to recommendations of a soil test, as wood ashes can raise the soil pH quickly and excessively).
Buying wood from a local supplier is also far better than buying pellets from afar and minimizes consumption of motor fuels. It also provides local employment and keeps money in the local economy.
More reading and sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification
- http://midwestpermaculture.com/2012/10/downdraft-wood-gasification/
- https://www.mofga.org/resources/green-building/wood-gasification/
