Author Topic: Basic gas supplementation.  (Read 6407 times)

guest22972

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Basic gas supplementation.
« on: July 28, 2016, 11:27:51 AM »

Was looking at some Biogas Vids and came across this one.
Guy in India using the gas he produces from cow dung to run what appears to be an unmodified listeroid to drive his pump and greatly reduce his use of Diesel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1BXazpSI5M

I want to have a go at this gas generation myself this summer. I have several plastic 1000L tanks I can use as a digester but still thinking about the best/ easiest/ cheapest storage tank.  Maybe a couple of inverted 44's with
the backside cut out inverted in an IBC?

They can apparently be fed with a number of feedstocks including veg oil. Could be a way of getting rid of the slops and particles and getting something useful from it along with the rabbit litter and all the food scrap waste.

Not sure what I'll do with the gas when I make it, Mrs loves BBQ's in summer so that would be a saving in LPG I suppose! :0)

EdDee

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2016, 01:48:41 PM »
Hey Glort,

I am keen to see what you come up with (ie I want to steal with my eyes  ;D ).... Keep us posted!!

Cheerz
Ed
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dax021

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2016, 01:58:32 PM »
Hi Glort, thanks for starting this thread, I will be following closely.  This is something I've been thinking about for years, but the minefield of methods and the work involved has put me off.  I am also totally off-grid and my motivation is purely cost, to generate energy at the minimum. Ed, I'm sure you'll have a lot of input too.

George A

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2016, 08:31:40 PM »
Ah, yes........"gobar gas"!

Years ago I took information from a Mother Earth News article and built a small but workable digester from a 55 gallon drum, a truck inner tube and some tubing. The drum should have a removable top for recharging/cleaning and the inner tube should be big enough to encircle the drum.  The idea is that the gas is generated in the drum and piped to the inner tube, which inflates and provides some pressure/storage. The inner tube is piped into a cross on the drum lid with two ball valves, one for releasing gas to the atmosphere and the other piped to where you want the gas.

I had goats, not cows, so that was my "fuel". I filled the drum about halfway with goat gronk and water, then sealed the top. It was then allowed to sit in the sun for a day. I cracked the ball valve I had placed in the lid and was rewarded with a "hiss" of gas. I watched the inner tube fill with gas. I deliberately stood on the tube and released the first two fillings into the air so as to not have any oxygen mixed with the gas. I then hooked a tube from the other ball valve on the lid and piped it to a small propane two burner stove............and cooked lunch. Gas production slowed during the cool of the evening but there was still enough to operate that small stove.

Two cautions: 1. Always bleed off the first two batches of gas to eliminate oxygen. 2. Don't get clever and try to light any escaping gas to amaze your friends.....it'll work.

Long story short, it works and I see no reason why it couldn't power an engine.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2016, 08:37:08 PM by George A »
I've joined "the dark side"....if it has a spark plug, it's obsolete technology.

EdDee

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2016, 11:56:16 PM »
Hey guys...

I must confess, I have been keen on methane or brown gas generation for a while...both for direct flame burner heating and as a diesel supplement.... I am going to sit quietly in a corner and watch how brother Glort gets one together, all the while stealing his good ideas, then try myself... with all the good bits from everybody else incorporated... one thing I will incorporate right close to the digester, will be a bubble "anti flashback arrestor"... but that's about all I can suggest at this stage... I am mulling over the best ways to get a small and usable system together with the minimum of cost and labour involved... I have a couple of 5000l tanks to use, but they are far from ideal... too many openings, and large ones at that, and difficult to seal...

I now retreat to my hidey hole to spectate and steal with my eyes...

Cheers
Ed
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George A

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2016, 03:48:14 AM »
Try Googling "Gobar gas digesters" or "Methane digester design India". You'll get all kinds of ideas.......
I've joined "the dark side"....if it has a spark plug, it's obsolete technology.

BruceM

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2016, 04:11:30 AM »
Hydrogen storage and plumbing are serious problems due to rapid metal embrittlement from exposure to hydrogen under pressure.  A potentially very dangerous situation for high pressure storage, and since regularly replacing all plumbing and tanks is so expensive, development has stalled.  There are some alleged absorber materials that may make storage practical, but they are way underfunded for development, so nothing much is happening.  

It's a pity, as a practical way to generate a burnable and storable gas or liquid fuel with excess PV capacity would be marvelous for those of us off the grid...and maybe for all of us fond of this planet.  

I've played with Brown's gas- hydrogen and oxygen.  If you want a very big bang there's nothing better, it is dangerously explosive.  Even just hydrogen and air mixed is quite volatile.  Pure hydrogen ignited in a trash bag is just a nearly invisible blue whoosh.  

I recently read that hydrogen mixed with CO2 will burn in equipment designed for natural gas without modification.  That's a step in the right direction, but still doesn't solve the metal embrittlement issue for tanks and plumbing.



« Last Edit: August 02, 2016, 04:15:56 AM by BruceM »

EdDee

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Re: Basic gas supplementation.
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2016, 09:33:08 AM »
Hey Glort!!

Almost pee'd myself reading your response!! Love it!!

Keep an eye on your horizon, I have a few hundred cubic meters of attic and basement I can use for storage of slutgas(HoHoHo)...

But seriously though, I am interested in generating on demand as a possible replacement for acetylene for some little "experiments and trials" I would like to run at some stage... While Methane and similars lend themselves to storage and slow generation thereof, slutgas doesnt...simple as that...make/use in one fluid motion...forget storage...(at this stage anyway, for me, that is..)

The problems with piping it...well, 'nuff said....

But methane and similars, now we're talking!

Just gotta wrap my head around a frugal(cheap ass), easy(lazy), safe(I dont need to be near it) way of making and holding it(Methane).... I am sure I will find something(someone else will find a way and I will copy it)....eventually(I can wait)...

Now... off to go and seal the cracks in the basement so it can be used(combined slutgas storage and smoking area)........BOOM!

Cheerz
Ed
12/1 750RPM/9HP Roid 5kVA- WMO Disposal/Electricity & Hot Water Gen
12/1 650RPM/8HP Roid 4.5kVa - Demon Dino
Chinese Yanmar - Silent Runner with AutoStart
Classic Komatsu 1963 Dozer/Fergusson 35 Gold Belly ...
Bikes,Cars,Gunsmithing & Paintball...Oh yes, a 5Ha open air Workshop to play in!