[Terrapreta] water gas?

[Greg and April]

>From everything I have read, they would alternate fanning the fires to get a 
pile of coal incandescent, then inject steam.


A good book that gives some statistics on the various gasses from the 
different types of plants ( and allot of information on various producer 
plants them selves ) is Gas-Engines & Producer Plants.


According to the book a water gas plant ( of the Strache type ), produced a 
gas with the following value:

Nitrogen and oxygen    5%
CO    40%
CO2    4%
Hydrocarbons ( HC's )    1%
H2    50%

Calorific value ( in calories )    2,400 ( I'm assuming it's for 1 cubic 
meter )

OTOH, a wood gas plant ( of the Rich'e type ), might produce the following 
value ( for comparison ).

Nitrogen and oxygen    1%
CO    29%
CO2    11%
HC's    15%
H2    44%

Calorific value    2,960


Greg H.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Davis" <jeff0124 at velocity.net>
To: "Terra Preta" <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 21:39
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] water gas?


> Gerrit,
>
> Steam plus very hot charcoal = water gas (H2 + CO)
>
> Nice gas indeed!
>
> I think the old time forge people controled the charcoal fire with some
> water plus air.
>
> I can not say if what you want to do is dangerous or not. Too many 
> variables.
>
>
> Kindest regards,
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>> Does anybody know if water-drenching very hot char, or injecting
>> water into a charcoal kiln to arrest carbonization is dangerous?
>>
>> David Hirst wrote me:
>>
>> "This is the recipe for what I believe is called "Water Gas" in
>> ironworks and a by-product
>> of making the coke used in blast furnaces. After coke is left once
>> heat has driven off
>> all the hydrocarbons in coal - leaving carbon, then steam (ie water)
>> is passed through
>> the coke, forming H2 and CO, a fairly high energy density gas, I
>> believe often used in
>> the blast furnaces."
>>
>> Does anybody have any experience with what would happen?  Maybe just
>> a sizzling fizzle?
>>
>> Gerrit
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Jeff Davis
>
> Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
>
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