Implementation of a portable petrol - powered generator fueled through a tabletop biomass gasifier

Portable petrol powered generator are very popular around the world. They are used mostly when electrical power from the grid is not available, for example in blackout scenarios, remote areas or for temporary use and they are basically irreplaceable in many cases. The idea behind this work is to substitute the fossil fuel as the energy source of these systems with the syngas produced through biomass gasification, that is a carbon negative energy process in order to achieve a complete decarbonisation as soon as possible. Coupling gasifiers and reciprocating internal combustion engine is a very old technology, however there are no small and cheap systems available that can be successfully connected to this kind of generator. The laboratory scale gasifier presented in Lisbon at the 27th EUBCE in the paper titled: “Design and first tests of a micro lab scale (2kg/h) gasifier” after a series of test has been improved enhancing its efficiency, gas quality and power output. A GeoTech GGP 4000 ES petrol powered has been selected to operate with the syngas from the gasification system and its intake manifold has been modified. The gasifier is able to operate with different kinds of biomasses like wood fir pellets, wood chips, vine prunings pellets, hemp hurd etc. The fuel chosen for the test was the standard A1 ENPlus wood pellet. An Iveco air filter was used to preserve the engine from the tars and particulate present in the gas. The energetic consumption was calculated and the thermal power output from the engine exhaust was estimated measuring gas composition and the air flow and entering in the gasifier. The results from the test show that it is possible renew the way the portable petrol generator are used, making them efficient and eco-friendly without increasing dramatically the complexity of the system or the costs.