Power Generation: Sustainability

[jimmiller5417]

Syngas is made from the slow burning of wood waste in a very low oxygen atmosphere.  The gases are known as "producer gas" and can be directly burned in a diesel engine as if it were propane.  I've seen it power a Kohler generator without modification.  I would hope Cat makes a dual fuel generator which can directly burn producer gas.

Producer gas can be made into "producer oil" and then fractionally distilled into biogasoline, biodiesel, bioheating oil, and bioroad tar.  The biodiesel will power a standard diesel engine without modification.  The forest industry produces billions of tons of waste wood which can be used to create syngas and biochar.  To avoid having this post too long and to learn more, please visit: http://algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com/page/SYNGAS+AND+BIOCHAR

Many communities and states prohibit the running of diesel generators, except as standby power, because of the pollution issue.  By burning producer gas and/or biodiesel, that issue goes away (except for NOX's).  A catalytic converter can get rid of the NOX's.  Thus Cat (or any manufacturer) would be able to sell into the farm-size operation and into the small towns and villages a CHP system which provides for District Heating and local distribution of electrical energy.  This progam is a "grow your own" approach to sustainability.

Posted on the CAT online community forum on 10/21/08: https://caterpillar.lithium.com/t5/forums/postpage/board-id/SUSTAINABILITY.

This is a new online forum, courtesty of CAT, for anyone having at interest in diesel generators and alternative fuels.  Thanks, CAT.

[bgreene]

Does the syngas emmissions contain enough CO2 to be used as a feedstock for an algae farm?I own an old Nike missile site that sits atop the Barnett Shale natural gas reserve.My plan calls for including slow pyrolysis syngas in concert with the natural gas derived from an onsite natural gas well (to be drilled) to produce electricity and biofuels.Utilizing the resulting CO2 to be the feedstock for an algae farm seems like a natural from these  gas sources.Does CAT make natural field gas generator sets that could do the job? b.greene

[woody]

The short answer on bgreene's last question is yes, Cat does make natural gas gensets. A sales support specialist said field gas is an option, depending on the amount of methane present or "methane number." You local Cat dealer can provide more specifics on how to determine that number and genset sizing.

Find you local Cat dealer: http://www.cat.com/cda/layout?m=39542&x=7

Hope this helps.

[jduine]

On this moment their are two locations in the world where I know they are working on G3500 series engine running with Syn-gas (also called Wood-gas).
One of them is Eneria in France (www.eneria.com).

We have developed a EGS-02 control system for them, which support 2x TecJet 110 gas control valve (next generation Raptor :-) to supply the engine of enough energy. The engine behaive like a normal natural gas engine.

They have on this moment a pilot project in France with a single G3516, which has been started in 2006, and is used for biomass development.

Message Edited by jduine on 07-06-2009 07:27 PM

[hiltnerj]

Hello,

     I would take the previous 'yes' as a 'not really'.  The team at Eneria is doing a great job of developing a Cat gas engine system that will run on wood gas, but all of the installations to date from CAT and other engine makers are basically still in the research and development phase.  There is some work to be done on the engine side, but the gas processing a cleanup is a major undertaking.  I certainly wouldn't suggest developing such a system as a commercially viable undertaking at this point.  There are a number of significantly sized wood gas plants in operation in Europe and a few in the U.S. but this is not an 'out of the box' type of project.

hiltnerj

[Sadat]

The cleaning of Syngas still a big factor to burn in the gas engine.

I would like to point out Jim information that a Kohler Diesel Engine is being used to burn wood gas. In reply of Jim e-mail, you diverted to burn the syngas in natural gas engine.

I think tar produced during sungas production can be handeled in diesel engine easely instead of gas engine.

I hope and wish that Eneria will find the solution to clean the Syngas from tar to open the channel for other dealers to focus in this segment.

Sadat

[hiltnerj]

Hello Sadat,

     I don't beleive that diesel engines are any more tolerant of wood gas than natural gas engines.  The problem is not that gas engines will not run on raw wood gas, but that they will not run at high power density, high efficiency and at low emissions levels over the 8,000 hours/year for 10 years that are expected of them.  Many small engines can be made to run for a period of time on just about any fuel, but to be a commercially viable product a stationary power generation must meet the same performance standards on wood gas that would be expected of it on natural gas.

hiltnerj

[zpsguy]

We worked on a project probably about 10 years ago now that used an old G342 NA engine that was run on Syngas at a local University.  I think this would be a hard project to tackle with a modern engine that has all the NSPS mandates.  Its not like you can just rotate a distributer cap and open or close a fuel metering valve.

[Peter]

There is a gasifier (thermal converter) that has been in production for over 30 years that can deliver a ‘producer gas’ from a number of carbonaceous feedstocks (wood waste, crop residues and animal manure, MSW, certain plastics, low ranked coal and used tires). The gas can be fired in modified diesel or gas engines as the gas will have no tars or particulates, and can satisfy warranty of most any engine builder.

We can provide turn-key projects from a low of 5 kWe up to 3 mWe that provide up to 35% conversion efficiency with electrical generation alone, and up to 90% efficiency with CHP.

You can email me at pmason at telus.net for further particulars. (Substitute ‘at’ in the email with the @ symbol).

Regards,

Peter.

[autoidea]

Such small, containerized CHP plants (20 kWe, 100 kWe, 200 kWe, 500 kWe) are now available from a U.S. company, operating from Europe.

They operate with up to 85% efficiency, running on various straws, wood chips, corn cobs and other agro and forestry waste.

Look up Bioleux Polska or drop a line, if interested.