@BocajBinLadin Not quite. You need a way to collect the gas so you have enough to burn for a while. You also have to make sure all the oxygen is out of the system before you light the gas so the flame doesn't go back the tube and make a big mess! Usually the first batch of gas collected is exhausted to the atmosphere without burning it.
I would like to give biogas a run for its money, for a completely different reason. Besides cow poop, what would you recommend using as a means of generating large amounts of biogas? I know lots of things can be used, but most of them only produce limited amounts of gas.
I am interested in chemistry and bunsen burner is really useful. I can make my own burner, but I'd also like to make my own fuel.
@yellowmetalcyborg I think you must have an interesting job! Academics, right? Anyway, cow manure and other livestock manure doesn't produce huge amounts of biogas but it is good at buffering the pH and has lots of nitrogen in it. If you add kitchen/food scraps to it you'll get quite a lot more biogas since you're adding more carbon, and the manure provides the nitrogen. You need to keep the C:N ration at about 30:1 since the methanogenic bacteria use up carbon 30 times faster than nitrogen.
@yellowmetalcyborg If you Google "biogas feedstock" you'll get a lot of info on the various types of material useful for producing biogas. Lipids (animal fats) produce high quantities but you have to provide sufficient N along with it and keep the pH between 6.8 and 8. Several large companies are successfully producing biogas from their animal processing wastes. Temperature needs to be kept at around your body temp (your gut has similar bacteria in it) for mesophilic bacteria to thrive.
@approtechie Thanks for the info. I'm a high school student, so I don't have access to a lab. A bunsen burner is a starting point. It allows you to melt glass and to perform certain reactions that require high temperatures, the rest builds off of that. I could just buy propane and butane, but where's the fun in that :)
Also, what kind of bacteria should I put in the digester? should I throw in some cow stool so as to ensure that the right bacteria populations are in the tank?
@yellowmetalcyborg The bacteria are in the environment pretty much all around the world but take a while to get going. Adding some animal droppings to the mix really accelerates the process since the bacteria are found in large numbers in the gut.
Im really impressed by your work. Im just wondering; what efficency do your engine have and what is the effect of the gasburner? Have you tried making one with more then one cylinder (if that is what your engine have) and are you useing some kind of gas (like helium) for the regenerator process ( I guess your engine isnt an open one).
@Mhall815 I don't really know how efficient the engine is since I've never had the equipment to measure that. The little bunsen burner works well with biogas, natural gas, or propane and produces a very hot flame, sufficient to run the cylinder head red hot. I've not yet tried to do multicylinder engines but have thought about it a lot. This is a hot air engine, no helium, closed-cycle Stirling process. Helium would work better, I'm sure, but it's so hard to keep it from leaking out.
@approtechie Thank you for your response! I understand the difficulty of making it completly airtight. But your engine dosent differ from the basic of the coke can engines ( because it isnt a ericson engine, right?). Do you glue your engine tight or do you weld it? Right now im trying to understand how this type od hot air engine work. Im wondering if the conduktivity of the displayser piston should be as low as possible and if such, what have you done to do so with your engine?
@Mhall815 My engine is similar to coke can engines but I use stainless steel wool for the displacer. There is a thermal conduction path up through the wool but only where the fibers touch each other, so it's not really been an issue. I glue the engine cylinder to the base piece, glue the rubber diaphragm to the upper piece, and screw the two pieces together to seal the diaphragm to the lower piece. This engine is a beta-type, my previous engines and most coke can engines are gamma-type.
@approtechie Thank you for the useful info. The thing is that Im doing a 100p project on stirling engines and am thinking about doing some practicall work. Im almost done doing a small beta type coke can engine and am thinking about doing something a little bit more challenging since I have 140 h of project time. Do you have any suggestions what I can do? I got a home workshop to my disposal with a substantial amount of tools and possiblillity to borrow some more.
@Mhall815 I wish I had more time to mentor you on building a more useful engine but I'm pretty much up to my ears now with what I already have. I put some photos of my engine at the end of my video "Beta Water Bottle Stirling Engine" that might give you some ideas how to build a more powerful one.
@ibercaracole Je n'ai pas de plans encore. Les bidons sont pour le chauffage et le refroidissement des extrémités du moteur. Ils sont installés sur le cylindre, qui est une bouteille d'eau en acier inoxydable. Merci!
Great trial again! Interesting heat source could be also a gasifying stove if you run out of poop. One with nice properties and future plans for developing world uploaded by WorldStove. LuciaStove parts look quite simple (except the air channels...). Airflow was genious and I was impressed about the ability to produce extra gas with simple pipe - for a Stirling engine to distribute main heat for example?... waste was biochar that is also useful for soil improvement like digested poop is.
@358Eki I've been following the Lucia stove for a couple of years now and I confess that I'm pretty fascinated by it. I tried building a similar one with no fan a couple of days ago and it worked pretty well, but with a fan would work much better. I ended up with quite a bit of biochar afterward as well.
I saw something like this on a show called Planet Mechanics but on a much larger scale. Its great to see a smaller scale is possible and maybe even practical, nice job on design and concept.
Now the question is what are the best critters for the digester. What if we could culture the critters like a vinegar mother? I heard there was a bacteria soldiers found in WW2 in the south pacific that ate the canvas tents and produced ethanol. This line of thinking might prove very useful to convert yard waste into fuel for the sterling engine.
@ImJacksAmygdala One of the nice things about this system is that you don't have to introduce any bacteria, it's already present all over the world. You just have to contain the waste in an air-tight vessel and the process starts automatically. It does need to be kept at about body temperature to function well, since that's the range required by the mesophilic bacteria that are most productive.
@forbiddenfoe Cute comment! But just to clarify, there is no stink from this system at all, only when you load the digester with poop. The gas is almost odorless.
@SCENARIOBABY Get or build a Stirling engine, drive it in the appropriate direction and the cylinder head gets cold. Put the head in an insulated box. Voila! Stirling refrigerator!
to make a biogas maker couldnt i just put manure in a bucket put a top on it and run a tube from a hole in the lid to a burner? wouldnt that work?
BocajBinLadin 2 weeks ago
@BocajBinLadin Not quite. You need a way to collect the gas so you have enough to burn for a while. You also have to make sure all the oxygen is out of the system before you light the gas so the flame doesn't go back the tube and make a big mess! Usually the first batch of gas collected is exhausted to the atmosphere without burning it.
approtechie 2 weeks ago
1:45 *i looked somewhere else*
1:46 *bum* what?! engine fails?!
oh.. *disatisfied faces*
lol jk, that was a great thinking rly, i imagine it in industrial scale
llonnette 3 weeks ago
@llonnette lol!
approtechie 2 weeks ago
a fan to make cow poop smell go way =D
swordjojo 4 months ago
I would like to give biogas a run for its money, for a completely different reason. Besides cow poop, what would you recommend using as a means of generating large amounts of biogas? I know lots of things can be used, but most of them only produce limited amounts of gas.
I am interested in chemistry and bunsen burner is really useful. I can make my own burner, but I'd also like to make my own fuel.
Any suggestions?
yellowmetalcyborg 5 months ago
@yellowmetalcyborg I think you must have an interesting job! Academics, right? Anyway, cow manure and other livestock manure doesn't produce huge amounts of biogas but it is good at buffering the pH and has lots of nitrogen in it. If you add kitchen/food scraps to it you'll get quite a lot more biogas since you're adding more carbon, and the manure provides the nitrogen. You need to keep the C:N ration at about 30:1 since the methanogenic bacteria use up carbon 30 times faster than nitrogen.
approtechie 5 months ago
@yellowmetalcyborg If you Google "biogas feedstock" you'll get a lot of info on the various types of material useful for producing biogas. Lipids (animal fats) produce high quantities but you have to provide sufficient N along with it and keep the pH between 6.8 and 8. Several large companies are successfully producing biogas from their animal processing wastes. Temperature needs to be kept at around your body temp (your gut has similar bacteria in it) for mesophilic bacteria to thrive.
approtechie 5 months ago
@approtechie Thanks for the info. I'm a high school student, so I don't have access to a lab. A bunsen burner is a starting point. It allows you to melt glass and to perform certain reactions that require high temperatures, the rest builds off of that. I could just buy propane and butane, but where's the fun in that :)
Also, what kind of bacteria should I put in the digester? should I throw in some cow stool so as to ensure that the right bacteria populations are in the tank?
yellowmetalcyborg 5 months ago
@yellowmetalcyborg The bacteria are in the environment pretty much all around the world but take a while to get going. Adding some animal droppings to the mix really accelerates the process since the bacteria are found in large numbers in the gut.
approtechie 5 months ago
Im really impressed by your work. Im just wondering; what efficency do your engine have and what is the effect of the gasburner? Have you tried making one with more then one cylinder (if that is what your engine have) and are you useing some kind of gas (like helium) for the regenerator process ( I guess your engine isnt an open one).
Mhall815 5 months ago
@Mhall815 I don't really know how efficient the engine is since I've never had the equipment to measure that. The little bunsen burner works well with biogas, natural gas, or propane and produces a very hot flame, sufficient to run the cylinder head red hot. I've not yet tried to do multicylinder engines but have thought about it a lot. This is a hot air engine, no helium, closed-cycle Stirling process. Helium would work better, I'm sure, but it's so hard to keep it from leaking out.
approtechie 5 months ago
@approtechie Thank you for your response! I understand the difficulty of making it completly airtight. But your engine dosent differ from the basic of the coke can engines ( because it isnt a ericson engine, right?). Do you glue your engine tight or do you weld it? Right now im trying to understand how this type od hot air engine work. Im wondering if the conduktivity of the displayser piston should be as low as possible and if such, what have you done to do so with your engine?
Mhall815 5 months ago
@Mhall815 My engine is similar to coke can engines but I use stainless steel wool for the displacer. There is a thermal conduction path up through the wool but only where the fibers touch each other, so it's not really been an issue. I glue the engine cylinder to the base piece, glue the rubber diaphragm to the upper piece, and screw the two pieces together to seal the diaphragm to the lower piece. This engine is a beta-type, my previous engines and most coke can engines are gamma-type.
approtechie 5 months ago
@approtechie Thank you for the useful info. The thing is that Im doing a 100p project on stirling engines and am thinking about doing some practicall work. Im almost done doing a small beta type coke can engine and am thinking about doing something a little bit more challenging since I have 140 h of project time. Do you have any suggestions what I can do? I got a home workshop to my disposal with a substantial amount of tools and possiblillity to borrow some more.
Mhall815 5 months ago
@Mhall815 I wish I had more time to mentor you on building a more useful engine but I'm pretty much up to my ears now with what I already have. I put some photos of my engine at the end of my video "Beta Water Bottle Stirling Engine" that might give you some ideas how to build a more powerful one.
approtechie 5 months ago
Belle réalisation, mais je ne comprends rien du tout à tout ces bidons autour du moteur.
est-il possible de voir un schéma ?
Merci
ibercaracole 5 months ago
@ibercaracole Je n'ai pas de plans encore. Les bidons sont pour le chauffage et le refroidissement des extrémités du moteur. Ils sont installés sur le cylindre, qui est une bouteille d'eau en acier inoxydable. Merci!
approtechie 5 months ago
Simply marvellous.
This is a fine example of converting "Moo's poos to Freeze breeze."
Your work is fantastic, and I think it is among the best I have ever seen.
Bravo. Keep up the good work :) .
PonyHaven 5 months ago
Great trial again! Interesting heat source could be also a gasifying stove if you run out of poop. One with nice properties and future plans for developing world uploaded by WorldStove. LuciaStove parts look quite simple (except the air channels...). Airflow was genious and I was impressed about the ability to produce extra gas with simple pipe - for a Stirling engine to distribute main heat for example?... waste was biochar that is also useful for soil improvement like digested poop is.
358Eki 6 months ago in playlist More videos from approtechie
@358Eki I've been following the Lucia stove for a couple of years now and I confess that I'm pretty fascinated by it. I tried building a similar one with no fan a couple of days ago and it worked pretty well, but with a fan would work much better. I ended up with quite a bit of biochar afterward as well.
approtechie 6 months ago
Thank you for answering, can hardly wait for the plans etc....
dcrits 6 months ago
Do you have any of these great stirling engines that may be old that one could purchase?
dcrits 6 months ago
@dcrits Sorry, no oldies. But I may be offering plans and kits/parts/engines from online sometime soon.
approtechie 6 months ago
Meuh! my beauties move the Stirling :)
Love it!
0030chris73 6 months ago
@0030chris73 You mean they moo-ve the Stirling! Yup, they do! A very moving experience all around.
approtechie 6 months ago
Awesome.
bananaphonehome 6 months ago
I saw something like this on a show called Planet Mechanics but on a much larger scale. Its great to see a smaller scale is possible and maybe even practical, nice job on design and concept.
PuciferSam 6 months ago
Nice!
Also we can use the cooling water to heat the digester, so we can have a bigger gas flow.
kistuszek 6 months ago
@kistuszek That's right. A lot of commercial producers do that very thing.
approtechie 6 months ago
Now the question is what are the best critters for the digester. What if we could culture the critters like a vinegar mother? I heard there was a bacteria soldiers found in WW2 in the south pacific that ate the canvas tents and produced ethanol. This line of thinking might prove very useful to convert yard waste into fuel for the sterling engine.
ImJacksAmygdala 6 months ago
@ImJacksAmygdala One of the nice things about this system is that you don't have to introduce any bacteria, it's already present all over the world. You just have to contain the waste in an air-tight vessel and the process starts automatically. It does need to be kept at about body temperature to function well, since that's the range required by the mesophilic bacteria that are most productive.
approtechie 6 months ago
a fan that blows away its own stink
forbiddenfoe 6 months ago
@forbiddenfoe Cute comment! But just to clarify, there is no stink from this system at all, only when you load the digester with poop. The gas is almost odorless.
approtechie 6 months ago
I like this stirling engine.I m working in on
rsdionisio 6 months ago
A cow poop fan!?!? Now I have seen it all. LOL
Awesome man!
TheGrayman1234 6 months ago
Awesome, and inspirational !
specallez 6 months ago
great idea !!!
MegaMalek95 6 months ago
great video! You were mentioning refrigerator temps with the heat pump! Can you show us a video on how to do that?! Thanks -Charles
SCENARIOBABY 6 months ago
@SCENARIOBABY Get or build a Stirling engine, drive it in the appropriate direction and the cylinder head gets cold. Put the head in an insulated box. Voila! Stirling refrigerator!
approtechie 6 months ago