How to make a gas generator for a car with your own hands

Are you trying to lower your fuel expenses and improve the environmental impact of your car? Building a gas generator for your car is one creative solution that is becoming more and more popular among do-it-yourselfers. Your car can run more efficiently and require less regular gasoline if you can turn common materials into a fuel source. We’ll go over the fundamentals of building a gas generator for your car in this guide, providing you with helpful hints and detailed instructions to get you started.

Let’s start by defining what a car gas generator truly is. In essence, it’s a machine that creates a mixture of combustible gases that can be used as an additional fuel source in addition to gasoline. This mixture is commonly referred to as "wood gas" or "producer gas." The process of pyrolysis, which entails heating organic materials like wood or biomass without oxygen, is usually responsible for producing this gas. After that, the produced gas can be added to the engine’s intake system and burned alongside regular fuel to increase power and range.

Understanding the parts that make up a typical gas generator setup is essential before beginning construction. The majority of gas generators have three main parts: a reactor unit, a filtration system, and a gas delivery mechanism, though designs can differ. The organic material is subjected to pyrolysis in the reactor unit, which generates the gas mixture. In order to protect engines from damage, the filtration system then filters out impurities and tar from the gas. The cleaned gas is then delivered by the gas delivery mechanism to the engine, where it is burned to power the car.

Let’s now talk about the supplies and equipment required to put your gas generator together. Luckily, a lot of these things are readily available or can be made from commonplace items. An old steel drum or a metal pipe would work well as a robust and temperature-resistant metal container for the reactor unit. Furthermore, insulation material is required to line the reactor and support the maintenance of ideal pyrolysis conditions. Refractory bricks and ceramic fiber blankets are typical choices. Additional crucial parts consist of tubing to link the generator to your car’s intake system, valves, piping, and a gas filter.

Scheme of gas generator and principle of operation

All of the biomass on our planet, including wood and different types of coal that compressed plants have converted over millions of years, is based on carbon. Methane, propane, and gasoline are hydrocarbons that are extracted from the interior of the earth and burned in internal combustion engines (ICE) and boilers. Year after year, their cost drives home handymen to come up with inventive ways to use outdated technology. Among them were cars equipped with wood-based gas generators that first appeared at the start of the previous century.

The basic idea is to use pyrolysis to convert wood into a gaseous, combustible mixture made up of various carbon-based compounds:

• carbon monoxide (CO);
• free hydrogen (H₂);
• the familiar methane₄);
• other hydrocarbon compounds (general formula – CnHm).

Note: The mixture’s primary combustible ingredient is carbon monoxide (CO), with very little of the other compounds on the provided list. Other gases that are referred to as ballast gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen. The final product’s calorific value and percentage of substances are displayed in the table:

A pyrolysis gas generator on wood, also known as a gazgen, is used to release gaseous fuel; the device is depicted in the scheme. Instead of a chimney, it is a closed container with grates that is filled with solid fuel through the upper hopper. The outlet spigot is for the gas mixture. The following is the gasser’s operating principle:

1. Ignition and combustion of an array of firewood takes place from below, above the grates. A limited amount of air (35% of the volume required for complete combustion) is blown into the chamber through the tuyere.
2. A large amount of heat is released in the combustion zone and the reaction of oxygen with carbon produces carbon dioxide CO₂. The content of carbon monoxide and other flammable substances is low here.
3. In the zone of recovery (gasification) under the influence of high temperature carbon dioxide is saturated with carbon from wood and transformed into a combustible compound – CO. Here, water vapor decomposes and free hydrogen is formed.
4. The hot gases passing through the upper layers of fuel dry the wood and cause it to turn into semi-coke (dry distillation), thus releasing more carbon.
5. The gas mixture leaves the gasifier body and is sent for further purification to be fed to the combustion engine or boiler.

As a point of reference. The process of recovering carbon dioxide (conversion to CO) involves absorbing the heat generated during combustion. In the drawing, the zones are depicted conventionally, but there are no obvious borders between them.

For the purpose of clarity, we have explained how fuel is produced through a direct gasification process in which the fuel array travels in the direction of the airflow. Other techniques include the horizontal method, which is depicted above on the gas generator scheme, and the reverse process, in which air is blasted from top to bottom. We recommend watching the following video to gain a detailed understanding of the theoretical points:

Installation design

A single gas generator is insufficient to run a wood-fired auto or burn the resulting fuel in a boiler. The truth is that homemade fuel includes volatile impurities and tars, or more simply put, smoke and soot, in addition to ballast gases. The boiler’s burner device and the car motor are not made for this kind of fuel and will soon fail. As a result, three additional units make up the filtering system that is a part of the gas generator set:

• coarse filter – cyclone;
• radiator – cooler;
• fine filter.

The flow chart displays the arrangement of these components in the following order:

As illustrated in the drawing, the cyclone of a gas generator is a vertical cylinder with two spigots and a cone at the end. When the contaminated gas mixture enters it, it travels quickly in a circle, which causes large and medium-sized ash particles to be propelled against the walls by centrifugal force and escape through the cone’s opening.

The density of the gas decreases as temperature rises. Thus, the fuel from the gas generator’s outlet cannot be used in an internal combustion engine without first being pre-cooled; otherwise, it won’t ignite in the cylinders. Consequently, in industrial gas-generator installations, an air or water heat exchanger is positioned immediately after the cyclone, and then a compressor is used to force the cooled gas mixture into the distribution tank.

A fine filter, located at the end of the technological chain, eliminates tiny soot and ash particles from the final fuel. A scrubber is an example of a device that cleans gases by forcing them through water. Now that the technology for producing fuel has been figured out, you can build an inexpensive installation on your own to guarantee that an internal combustion engine will run on firewood.

"Heating and insulation of the house" is a crucial aspect of maintaining comfort and energy efficiency in any home. By properly insulating walls, floors, and roofs, homeowners can significantly reduce heat loss during the colder months and keep cool air inside during the summer, resulting in lower energy bills and a more comfortable living environment. Additionally, implementing efficient heating systems such as radiant floor heating or modern heat pumps can further enhance energy savings while providing consistent warmth throughout the house. Prioritizing insulation and heating upgrades not only improves comfort but also contributes to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly home.As for "How to make a gas generator for a car with your own hands," it involves constructing a device that converts gasoline into combustible gas, which can then be used to power a vehicle"s engine. This DIY project requires careful planning and attention to safety measures due to the combustible nature of the gases involved. The process typically involves building a gasification chamber where gasoline is heated to produce a flammable gas, which is then fed into the engine alongside regular air intake. While constructing a gas generator for a car can potentially increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, it"s essential to thoroughly research and understand the mechanics involved before attempting to build one, as improper installation or operation can pose serious risks to both the vehicle and its occupants.

Making a gasifier for a car

Prior to building a functional gas generator for the vehicle, we advise you to become acquainted with the following guidelines:

1. Organizing the supply of power gas in a modern car with an injector is not an easy task. The controller settings (firmware) will have to be changed, otherwise the wood fuel motor will not work. You need a car with the old fuel supply system – carburetor.
2. The higher the power and displacement of the engine, the higher the capacity of the gas generator must be. Consequently, it will grow in size.
3. To fit the installation into the trunk of a passenger car, you will need to cut out part of the underbody. If you do not want to affect the body, then immediately plan to put the wood generator with filters and cooler on the trailer.
4. For the manufacture of the gasification chamber, where the temperature exceeds 1000 ° C, use low-carbon thick steel (4-5 mm).
5. To reduce the content of tars in the gas mixture, make a chamber with a neck, as shown in the drawing.

Important point. A higher capacity can be attained without increasing the gasification chamber’s diameter, which in the drawing is 340 mm. The quality of wood processing will decline and the gain will be insignificant. But, unless you mount the unit on a trailer or the frame of a truck, maintaining a height of 183 cm is not required. It is possible to shorten the ash pan and fuel hopper.

The inner part of the car gas generator (hopper) can be assembled using an old propane cylinder, a KAMAZ truck receiver, or a thick-walled pipe. The other dimensions of the steel vessel should be correspondingly lowered, since its diameter is 300 mm. The gasification chamber is the only exception; it has a minimum diameter of 140 mm. The metal for the generator’s cover and casing can have a thickness of 1 mm. 5 mm. The final one has an asbestos-graphite cord seal.

The coolers and filters that go with them are constructed as follows:

1. Weld the cyclone from a spent fire extinguisher or a 10 cm diameter piece of pipe, as shown in the drawing. Attach the inlet pipe to the side and the outlet pipe to the top.
2. The power gas cooler should be made of steel pipes in the form of a coil. There are other options: using old convectors, heating batteries and radiators.
3. Make a fine filter from any cylindrical container (e.g. a barrel) filled with basalt fiber.

Watch the following video for more information on how to assemble the gas generator on your own:

A fan installed in the engine compartment, shaped like a snail, is required to ignite and start the gas generator (you can test it with a household vacuum cleaner). It just requires that the components that come into contact with the gas mixture be made of metal. Steel pipe is used for the fuel line, which runs beneath the vehicle and connects to the carburetor.

As a point of reference. The engine will benefit from significantly fewer impurities at the gas generator’s output if charcoal is used in place of wood. Such fuel is burned in a closed barrel or pit using a basic technology made of wood.

Connecting and starting the internal combustion engine

The air/fuel ratio needs to be adjusted for the motor to operate normally because fuel made from firewood has a much lower calorific value than gasoline. A mixer will need to be built and installed on the inlet pipe for this reason. An air damper driven by a cabin draft is the most basic kind of mixer.

It’s hard to start a cold engine on wood. As a result, it’s not necessary to give up gasoline entirely; instead, gasoline should only be used during startup before switching to gasoline produced by the generator. In order to implement fuel switching, construct a mixer in accordance with the plan provided in I. Ρ. Mezin’s book "Transport gas generators":

Note: There is a wealth of useful information about producing gaseous fuel from different kinds of wood and coal in the same book.

Now let’s talk about the unique aspects of firing up and operating an internal combustion engine on coal and wood:

• The size of the firewood loaded into the hopper must not exceed 6 cm;
• raw wood should not be used, because all the heat released will go to evaporate the water and the pyrolysis process will be extremely sluggish;
• ignition is done through a special opening with a check valve with the fan switched on at least 20 minutes before travel;
• Engine power is reduced by about 50% compared to driving on gasoline;
• from the previous point follows that the resource of the engine on homemade fuel also decreases.

It’s interesting to note that the car starts silently on the gas generator after being temporarily parked without using gasoline. Relighting the unit will take five to ten minutes after a prolonged period of inactivity. Watch the video below to learn how to start a car engine using a homemade gas generator on wood:

A DIY gas generator project for your car can be very alluring for people who want to lower their emissions and increase fuel economy. You may improve your car’s performance and help the environment at the same time by using basic materials and adhering to a few easy steps.

But it’s imperative that you approach this project cautiously and thoroughly research this. It takes a strong grasp of chemistry, safety procedures, and automotive mechanics to build a gas generator. You run the risk of breaking down your car or, worse, hurting someone else or yourself if you don’t have the right information and abilities.

Examine the project’s potential legal and regulatory ramifications before moving forward. Engine modifications to your car could break emissions regulations or void warranties. To make sure that applicable laws and regulations are followed, it is essential to confer with regulatory bodies or experts.

Furthermore, keep in mind that different homemade gas generators may work better than others. While some enthusiasts report notable gains in performance and fuel efficiency, others might not see the expected outcomes. It could be essential to test and modify the generator in real life in order to maximize its performance.

In conclusion, building a gas generator for your car may sound like a great idea, but it’s important to approach the project with knowledge, caution, and a complete awareness of the advantages and disadvantages. You may responsibly experiment with this do-it-yourself project and possibly enjoy the benefits of increased fuel efficiency and decreased environmental effect by putting safety, legality, and practicality first.

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