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Wood gas is a fuel gas that can be used for furnaces, stoves, and vehicles. During the production process, biomass or related carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited environment of a wood gas generator to produce a combustible mixture. In some gasifiers this process is preceded by pyrolysis, where the biomass or coal ...
This project was an electric power plant with a wood gas generator and a gas engine to convert the wood gas into 2 MW electric power and 4.5 MW heat. There was also an experimental device to use the Fischer–Tropsch process to convert wood gas to a diesel-like fuel. By October 2005, it was possible to convert 5 kg of wood into 1 litre of fuel.
The use of wood as a fuel source for heating is much older than civilization and is assumed to have been used by Neanderthals. Today, burning of wood is the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity.
Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine. The first practical mechanical steam engine was introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712. Newcomen apparently conceived his machine independently of Savery, but as the latter had taken out a wide-ranging patent, Newcomen and his associates were obliged to come to an arrangement with him, marketing the engine until 1733 under a joint patent. [2]
The Finnish company Steammotor Finland has developed a small rotary steam engine that runs with 800 kW steam generator. The engines are planned to produce electricity in wood chip fired power plants. According to the company, the steam engine named Quadrum generates 27% efficiency and runs with 180 °C steam at 8 bar pressure, while a ...
The first steam engine to be applied industrially was the "fire-engine" or "Miner's Friend", designed by Thomas Savery in 1698. This was a pistonless steam pump, similar to the one developed by Worcester. Savery made two key contributions that greatly improved the practicality of the design.
Firebox (steam engine) Steam engine firebox. The firedoor into the firebox of a steam locomotive. The firebox peak temperature is approximately 2,500 °F (1,370 °C) In a steam engine, the firebox is the area where the fuel is burned, producing heat to boil the water in the boiler. Most are somewhat box-shaped, hence the name.
A stationary steam engine, preserved at Tower Bridge in London. This is one of two tandem cross-compound hydraulic pumping engines formerly used to raise and lower the bridge. Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used ...