On the other hand, one can produce a kind of gasoline by destructive
distillation of biomass, initiating with very high temps, in a backyard
contraption.  The stuff does work.  I'll do some googling around and
probably find info online.  David Mc

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 5:48 PM, David Beierl wrote:

> 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]