This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Experiments with Wood Gas Engines
Technical Paper
2001-01-3681
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
The utilisation of producer gas - from thermal gasification of biomass - as a fuel for spark ignition gas engines is of vital importance to the ongoing effort of making biomass gasification a commercially feasible technology.
Tests have been carried out with a 1.1 litre four-cylinder natural aspirated SI engine in conjunction with a two-stage gasifier with a nominal thermal input of 100 kW. The fuel-gas is produced from wood chips in order to get a CO2 neutral fuel for combined heat and power production. The producer gas has a very low tar and particulate content and high hydrogen content. As the gasifier was operated with varying fuel properties, engine tests were made with different fuel-gas compositions. The engine tests showed that producer gas has a power and efficiency advantage compared to natural gas when operating the engine at lean burn conditions. The engine was operated at air/fuel ratios varying from stoichiometric to extremely lean burn (λ>3). This was done while maintaining a good efficiency and power output.
A gas-mixing apparatus was fabricated in order to make synthetic producer gas. With this apparatus, engine experiments were possible, without starting up the gasifier. Experiments have been conducted with a 0.48 litre one-cylinder high compression ratio SI engine fueled by synthetic producer gas, natural gas and a mixture of both. The engine has a detachable piston crown. Different combustion chamber configurations, compression ratios and fuel-gas compositions have been tested.
It has been shown that it is possible to operate the engine at a compression ratio of 16:1 without experiencing knocking.
By using a fuel mixture of 50 v% producer gas and 50 v% natural gas the unburned hydrocarbon emissions from the engine were reduced by up to 70 % compared to natural gas.
Recommended Content
Authors
- Jesper Ahrenfeldt - Dept. of Mech. Eng., The Technical University of Denmark
- Torben Kvist Jensen - Dept. of Mech. Eng., The Technical University of Denmark
- Ulrik Henriksen - Dept. of Mech. Eng., The Technical University of Denmark
- Jesper Schramm - Dept. of Mech. Eng., The Technical University of Denmark
Citation
Ahrenfeldt, J., Jensen, T., Henriksen, U., and Schramm, J., "Experiments with Wood Gas Engines," SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-3681, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4271/2001-01-3681.Also In
References
- Hindsgaul C. “Low Temperature Particle Filtration of Producer Gas with Low Tar Content” Technical University of Denmark 2000
- Ahrenfeldt J. Pedersen T. Henriksen U. Schramm J. “Eksperimentelle Undersøgelser af Motordrift på Forgasningsgas” Technical University of Denmark 2000
- Heywood J.B. “Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals” McGraw-Hill 1998
- Olsson K. “On Combustion Chambers For Natural Gas SI Engines” Lund Institute of Technology 1995
- Jensen T. K. Schramm J. Søgård C. Ahrenfeldt J. “Hydrocarbon Emissions From a SI Engine Using Different Hydrogen Containing Fuels” SAE paper 2000-01-2824 2000