Power-in power-out'
We can make hydrogen from smallwood using solar power
Byron Anderson's essays and pictures on the Am-erican Hydrogen Association's website shows the equipment and methods Phil Jergenson and I have developed to cut, bundle, dry and gasify the smallwood (limbs and brush under 9 inches in diameter). The wood gas produced is filtered and the NOx (oxides of nitrogen) is reduced as the wood gas is passed through horse manure in my bionox gas processor. Wood gas can be used almost anywhere natural gas or propane is used.
Wood gas contains about 10 percent or 45 percent hydrogen, depending on the type of gasification employed. Hyd-rogen can be easily separated from wood gas because it is so much lighter. At this point you may be thinking, "That sounds great, let's do it, particularly if we can make most of it using PV solar power."
The balance between "power-in power-out" and "cost-in cost-out" are major obstacles to the profitable installation and operation of all types of renewable energy generation.
If we use more money as well as gas, oil and coal energy to cut, haul, dry and gasify the wood than we will get when we sell or burn the wood gas, we have not found a better way. In a similar way, the above applies to food and water.
For instance, the cutting and chipping of smallwood is now done by a variety of powerful "brush hogs," gas chainsaws, and tractors equipped with "brush rakes." The resulting chips or biomass is hauled off, left on the ground or in a pile, and burned.
It would be possible, I suppose, to dry the chips and gasify them, but the frying would probably require gas or oil for heat. All of the operations will probably use more gas or oil than the burning wood gas could produce.
In other words there is more "power-in" than "power-out."
After my afternoon nap yesterday I disconnected my electric-powered two-wheel J Barrow from two 75-watt PV solar panels. The solar panel had been charging the 100-amp hour battery on the J Barrow so I could allow as much as 500 watts for short periods. This powered my small 10-inch Stihl electric chainsaw to cut down a six-inch, 60-year-old suppressed Douglas fir that had blown over and "hung up" on a madrone.
"Hang ups" can be brought down by reaching up and cutting down, then cutting up. It is a dangerous operation. Sure enough when I cut through, the top slid down the madrone in a strange way. Fortunately, I was able to get out of the way. The safe cutting of smallwood is tricky sometimes.
I then cut up the trunk into 20-inch lengths, using the branchclamp on the J Barrow. This held the pieces securely and up off the ground. I then cut the limbs into 20 inch lengths using the attached lopping shear.
I then placed the pieces in the "bundling rack" on the J Barrow and wrapped them up with a strong U-Line plastic tape that sticks to the wood and itself. This produced five bundles of firewood and kindling, about a foot in diameter and each weighing about 30 pounds, green, or a total of 150 pounds when wet.
I loaded them into the J Barrow then slowly climbed up a 15 percent four-foot wide miniroad and placed the bundles the "solar woodier." In about three weeks I will have dry, easily handled firewood bundles.
I reconnected the J Barrow to the solar panels for recharging. The whole operation took about 70 minutes, which included a 10-minute break in one of the plastic armchairs I have placed around our eight acres.
This is the better way to reduce fire risk while exercising.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ed Burton is a Willits scientist, businessman and environmentalist.
willitsnews.com
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Bio-Mass to Bio-Gas
Ed Burton Uses Wood "Chunkettes" to Produce a Hydrogen Rich Bio-Gas
clean-air.org |
