Though you may never have heard the term “wood gasification,” it’s gaining popularity even though it’s an old process. Wood gasification is a clean, renewable way to use energy – not entirely unlike solar power and wind turbines. Wood gasification creates synthetic gas (syngas) from wood, which depends upon chemical reactions and soundly engineered devices to facilitate these reactions.
With utility bills going through the roof in many cases, people are looking for alternate heat sources. Some people are choosing anthracite coal boilers. Others prefer to use a wood gasification boiler. If you’ve never heard of gasification, you might wonder how it works. Here we’ll explore gasification.
Gasification – What Is It?
Wood contains 8,600 BTU per pound, and the wood’s gases contain 60-70% of that energy. Gasification is the process of extracting that gas from the wood. That is a basic definition. A more in-depth explanation would be when a carbon-containing fuel (like wood) is put in a high heat environment (300-500F) with limited oxygen, the wood is forced to emit syngas. It isn’t quite combustion, even though it sounds like it. Once the gas is pulled out, you simply have nearly pure carbon remaining from what started as a piece of wood.
Wood Gasification, Specifically
Wood gasses indeed burn in all wood furnaces. We use a multistage downdraft process in our gasification system. We can control the fuel-to-air ratio for a more efficient, cleaner burn by using a downdraft process. Using well-seasoned wood works best for gasification.
The moisture content of your wood should be between 15% and 30% for a wood furnace to burn best. More creosote and tar buildup will result if you use wood with higher moisture content. You will also improve your wood boiler’s heating performance and efficiency by using well-seasoned wood.
Wood Gasification Boiler
The firebox is where the wood releases its syngas in a wood gasification boiler. The gases travel downward and into the firebrick chamber below. Here is where the combustion happens. The wood gases, including the smoke and a host of hazardous gasses, are burned up in the 1,800 to 2,000°F combustion chamber. We transferred the extreme heat that results into the boiler using our signature swirl chamber heat exchanger. The result is a cool, clean exhaust of mainly only water and carbon dioxide.
Speak to the Experts at Alternate Heating Systems About Your Home or Business Heating Solutions
With over 35 years of wood boiler and coal boiler industry experience, our family-operated and owned company creates custom heating and high-quality solutions for homes and businesses.
Not only do we, at Alternate Heating Systems, carry multi-fuel boilers, outdoor coal boilers, commercial wood gasification boilers, coal boilers, hot air furnaces, waste oil heaters, and indoor wood boilers, but we also handle add-ons, individual parts, and more.
It might be possible to save up to 70% on your heating costs with the right product and fuel. To find out whether or not your circumstances allow for these kinds of savings, speak with one of our representatives. They will be happy to answer all your questions about our products.