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E development of a wood gas-powered engine by Renault Vehies Industrials CCM August 7) is to continue for several more Inths so‘that an economic assessment of the concept can be de, writes GRAHAM MONTGOMERIE.
rhe project was started in irch 1981 with RVI co-operatI with one of France's largest orators, Societe Nouvelle des insports Rapides Calberson, d the oil companies ELF and tal.
rhe incentive for the research s the rise in oil prices and the riodic supply difficulties. After 'dying all the possible alternaEl fuel courses, RVI concented on wood and vegetable ste matter.
)ne of the design priorities for
gas generating system was it it should be able to use ien wood which could not be ad for any other purpose. This tans that the wood obtained selective pruning and felling Jld be used rather than there extensive forest stripping.
lenault claims that various ler vegetable products like lize cobs and straw could also used.
rhe initial development work s shown that, with modern lerators, the gases produced m about 3kg (about 61/21b) of lod provide the same amount energy as one litre (13/4 pints) derv.
)uring the last war, various ies of gas generator (wood and charcoal, for example) were used which were quite successful despite their disadvantages, and RVI says the future of modern gas generators will depend on the elimination of these disadvantages.
Earlier wood gas engines were of the spark ignition type but RVI is concentrating on a turbocharged diesel. Wood gas does not ignite spontaneously in a diesel engine so a primary dery ignition is necessary to start combustion.
The actual start from cold is made using pure dery until the generator is capable of producing the gas in sufficient quantities, which normally takes about five minutes.
With the current equipment, the weight penalty is around 1500kg (29cwt), which includes a supply of wood sufficient for 500km (300miles).