Wood Gas Generator

There are two methods.

1: Burn C containing material (wood, old car tires ect.ect.) and produce CO. Then burn the CO.

2: Burn C containing material (wood, old car tires ect.ect.) and produce CO. Under high temperature induce a water vapor into a containment with the CO. This produces syngas.

Either burn the syngas directly or use the Fischer-Tropsch process (force the gas thru packed iron mesh) to produce a liquid.

ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas

What is the rate of return of that? I always thought you were burning more BTUs than you got in return in gaseous fuel. The only benefit was you could run a carbureted engine with wood this way.

Drew K

I don't know what the rate of return is. That is irrelevant to me. The chief benefit to me is being able to run my generator without running out of fuel. During hurricanes/tropical storms we have been out of electricity for up to 10 days and not able to get access to gasoline due to flooding. I can store enough gasoline for about 6 days. I have access to several acres of trees, several of which are dead standing trees, probably enough fuel for 10 days or more. I just want to gain the most knowledge about different models of gas gens before I build one.

Back to the original question-- do you have any knowledge of the Mother wood gas generator? Thanks.

What is the rate of return of that?

I really dont know, but the studies show that method#2 is a positive as far as BTU. They use the syngas to power the process after starting the unit with an outside gas. True you never get out greater than you put in.

I did a test using Method#1 in my kitchen with a tea kettle some water and some carbon powder just to see and i damn near called the fire department when a 3' flame came out for about 30 seconds. (no more tea made out of that kettle)

"I did a test using Method#1 in my kitchen with a tea kettle some water and some carbon powder just to see and i damn near called the fire department when a 3' flame came out for about 30 seconds. (no more tea made out of that kettle)"

Oh if only had a dollar for everytime I have done something like that in my shop (on purpose or otherwise)........

Fun memories!

OP, pls provide a link, k?

Mother Earth does not provide free plans for the wood gas generator. You can go to their web site but you won't get the plans. I just wanted to know if anyone had experience using the Mother generator. I know the basic theories of how the generators work; I just wanted to find, through the experiences of others, the best design for a home-built model. On youtube there are several videos on the FEMA model but nothing on Mother's. Thanks.

Maybe you can get this guy to build one for you free of charge, for use of land space....?

http://www.woodgas.net/