At 11:23 AM 1/20/2010, John Rodgers wrote:
>adaptable to my van. Then I stumbled across this. Pretty interesting stuff.

Of course it's possible.  But I promise you wouldn't like it.  With
the existing engine I sincerely doubt that a Vanagon could get up to
the minimum speed (45 mph) to run on highways, although if you filled
the entire interior with wood pellets and a stoking mechanism you
could probably get decent range.

Producer gas is 20-30% carbon monoxide which is ninety-five times
more attractive to hemoglobin than oxygen is; small concentrations
will sneak up and kill you because the oxygen can't compete, and high
concentrations IIRC cause abrupt and total respiratory failure.  Your
relatives will have the consolation that your corpse will be a nice
healthy pink, since carboxyhemoglobin is a much brighter red than
oxyhemoglobin -- that's one of the diagnostic signs, in
fact.  Producer gas (made from coal, normally) used to be used as
city gas, which is why suicide by oven was in favor at the time --
quick, quiet, reliable, not too painful.  It's rumored that in some
Eastern European countries under Communism, the police would turn off
the gas to an entire street before they made their raid, so you can
imagine how fast the stuff must have acted.

Until our cities are bombed out and/or some other terrific disaster
strikes and we have to suddenly convert an existing fleet of
IC-engine vehicles to direct-biomass fuel without replacing the
engines, I officially suggest that using producer gas for vehicles is
a Friday subject.

The Stanley Steamer OTOH had a very nice flash boiler and I believe
it could get up steam in about a minute from a standing start (using
liquid fuel presumably).  Twenty-five years ago or so Saab was
thinking about a steam-powered vehicle and I believe they followed at
least somewhat along the lines of the Stanley.  I suggest not
considering steam turbines -- they are extremely successful in large
ships, but had an utterly disastrous history in railroads because of
vibration and shock.

Yours,
David
[/hat]