Wood Gasification
A technology that works in any kind of weather and is accessible to even the most rural users, as long as you have a reliable supply of wood.
Consider wood. It isn’t just a nostalgic fuel for fireplaces and s’mores. The average cord of dried firewood contains the energy of about 170 gallons of gasoline. When wood is heated to the right temperatures in a low-oxygen environment, a chemical reaction called “gasification” occurs, producing a gas that can power a generator. Devotees love this technology that works in any kind of weather and is accessible to even the most rural users, as long as they have a reliable supply of wood.
OK, so you’ve never heard of it. That may soon change. As traditional fuel costs rise, wood gasification becomes an ever more attractive option. Some compare the gasification industry today to the solar business a decade ago, before technological improvements and booming demand spurred rapid growth. Right now, wood “gasifiers” (the devices that turn wood into gas) are finicky and expensive, and require a fair amount of mechanical know-how to operate. But that hasn’t stopped a devoted group of people around the world from swearing by this quirky fuel. Here’s why:
Rural Power
Availability of affordable electricity isn’t reliable, particularly in rural parts of developing countries. That’s the primary market for gasifiers made by ALL Power Labs, based in Berkeley, California.
“This is on-demand, renewable energy,” says Tom Price, director of Strategic Initiatives.
Most of the company’s products are exported to the developing world to replace diesel-fueled generators. Its 20 kW Power Pod (producing close to double the power a typical North American home would need) starts at $29,995.
Weather Shmeather
When solar and wind systems sit idle due to poor weather, gasifiers keep on trucking. This can make them ideal for backup power for ofthe-gridders, says Matt Ryder, owner of Vulcan Gasifiers in Muskegon, Michigan.
The company offers several models that generate about 3 kW of electricity, enough to keep the essentials running during a power outage. Ones that run on either wood pellets or wood chips start at $3,700, while more automated models start at $4,950. The company also offers 10 kW and 50 kW models.
The New Solar?
“It’s easy to make a simple gasifier,” says Price. “It’s hard to make one that’s simple and easy to use and reliable, and that’s what we’re working on.”
Ryder agrees that finicky tech is a drag on the industry, but says electronic components that monitor and adjust conditions inside the gasification chamber are quickly improving. In five years, he predicts they’ll be reliable enough to operate remotely with a phone app.
A Farm Case Study
Gasification produces lots of waste heat when the gas is simply used to power a generator. Using that to heat water, let alone a whole house, is a great way to get a lot more bang for your investment buck. These are called “Combined Heat and Power,” or CHP, systems.
At Kuittila Farm in Nurmes, Finland, owners Jouni and Eini Korhonen installed a 40 kW CHP gasification system to provide power and heat for their home, 160-cow dairy, grain dryer and other things on the farm. The system, manufactured by Finnish company Volter Ltd., came online about a year ago. It provides all the farm’s heat and 170,000 kWh of electricity per year – or about half the farm’s annual electricity needs.
The Korhonens fuel the system with wood chips from their 250-acre forest, and will likely be able to do so for one more year. After that, they’ll have to begin buying wood chips.
Purchase and installation of this large unit – the first of its kind on a Finnish farm – cost roughly $540,000, 35 percent of which was covered by a public subsidy.
Heidi Tanskanen, project manager with the Pielinin Karelia Development Center, an organization that worked on the Kuittila Farm project, says the Korhonens are satisfied with the investment, despite many technical glitches that had to be worked out in the beginning.
“This is one of the first farm-scale gasification plants established for full-time use, and the manufacturer has been actively involved and working to improve the technique on the farm,” she says.
Top Photograph: New Power Cube Gasifier. / Courtesy All Power.
Diagram Source: peakprosperity.com.
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