A project committee of Sustain Jefferson (WI), recently built a FEMA
downdraft stratified gasifier. The gasifier stove creates hydrogen and
carbon monoxide, both combustible gases, out of bio-mass. The gasifier stove
has a number of positive features that are out-lined below. If you¹d like to
see the stove in operation, click on the videos below.
After the Gasifier has successfully produced hydrogen, the time comes to put that energy to good use. In the video below, you'll see how Greg David and his crew connected an interrnal combustion engine up to the gasifier, and actually got it to work after ironing out a few kinks.
One you have the internal combustion mechanism up and running, the next logical progression is to convert that raw rotating power to electrical energy. In the video below, you'll see how this process was undertaken, and wittness electricity being created from wood pellet exhaust.
The video below demonstrates some of the challenges in keeping the gasifier up and running, which incllude the intermittent disassembly of the gasifier for cleaning, and the means by which tar and other residual materials are removed from the gasifier.
Sustain Jefferson is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to restoring
social and ecological systems thru The Natural Step (TNS) framework and
methodologies. TNS is a system thinking approach to managing complex systems
that uses four science and ethics based conditions to define ecological and
social sustainability. An ABCD Compass methodology is used to Accept
conditions, provide Baseline annalists, create a Compelling vision and
Direct action. Sustain Jefferson strives to enable people, skills and ideas
to come together in a fertile atmosphere that enables restorative ideas to
grow and thrive. The Gasifier Project is one of those ideas.
Bio-mass Gasification
Small-scale, distributed, biomass-gasification, co-gen energy systems could
be an agriculturally restorative and profitable enterprise, if done in a
Holistic, local and ethical manner. Heat/electricity/carbon dioxide/Bio-char
(charcoal) can be produced in this system from a perennial woody or
cellulosic rich, feedstock crop. Heat, power and electricity can be produced
for local, direct consumption, providing most of the farmstead energy needs.
Much of the carbon (over 50 %) from the feedstock flowing into the
gasification stove remains sequestered in the form of charcoal (agri-char)
that can be returned to the soil, thereby enabling a carbon-negative energy
system.
Bio-mass Gasification and the Environment
Woody and cellulosic plants capture solar energy and store it in a form that
is readily utilized in gasifier stoves. The crop, if a perennial and diverse
plant community, will grow and add organic matter and carbon to the soil in
the form of yearly leaf drop and sympathetic life processes. The bio-mass,
when harvested causes some root die-back adding more organic matter to the
soil. Other ecological services; such as pollination, niche building, soil
friability, fertility, bio-diversity, also occur in the diverse crop
planting, adding an important economic and ecological contribution to our
social condition. And finally, the bio-char by-product of this energy system
can be returned to the soil adding still more carbon that acts as an
ecological catalyst, contributing significantly to the ecological services
of the land. This represents a truly restorative kind of agriculture that
can be a small local part of the solution to our energy crisis.
Local Scale System
These biomass stove/energy systems can be built at nearly any scale from
back-yard/household, to farmstead, to neighborhood, to community scale. I
believe the community scale is as large as practical, if the system is going
to be sustainable in the long term, because of the external costs of
shipping, transport support of biomass to the gasification site. Small,
local, distributed, gasification energy systems are more aligned with
sustainable ideals and ethical values than large central energy systems.
Bio-mass Gasification and the Economy
These gasification energy systems can function within current economic
conditions and thrive because they are built on an agricultural methodology
that is restorative and ethical, yet complimentary to Classical Capitalism.
Feeding electricity back into the grid may be an option for the producer in
some communities. District heat is an option in others. Even power can be
utilized in some instances. The localness of the system increases economic
multiplier effect and builds social and economic capital in the community.
These systems work to internalize the cost of production and restore and
build social and ecological capital in the community.
Permanent plantings can reduce erosion and actually create soil creating the
ecological capital for agricultural to flourish. Permanent plantings require
greatly reduce input; no fertilizer (except Bio-char and site produced
organic matter), no pesticides (unless you want to), and long cycle harvest
methods. Most of the costs of industrial agriculture (many of them
externalized) can be eliminated. Bio-mass gasification, co-gen systems that
are local in nature are not subject energy price fluctuations and
availability, or to take over by corporate interests.
In short, Bio-mass Gasification, if done in a holistic, ethical manner, can
create social and ecological capital and foster a restorative Permacultural
energy system. It can provide profitable jobs for farmers and entrepreneurs,
especially as Peak Oil and other fossil fuels come mainstream. And it can
add to the energy security of the farm, the farmer and the community.
