A long, long time ago in a far out galaxy, I once heard it said (or perhaps saw it written) that “anything that burns will run an ICE.” One thing that I specifically recall stated in that assertion was that in WWII Europeans used many things as fuel for automobiles. (seems like it even said wood)
I don’t know if it even mentioned the method for producing a fuel from those “things”. I would assume there would be some sort of process for deriving a substance from such things as wood. I assume it would follow along the lines of deriving ethanol from corn.
So is the basic assertion correct? Can anything that burns be used to derive a fuel to run an ICE? The affects it may have from long term use on the engine notwithstanding.
Pretty much anything that will burn will run an ICE. You might need to refine the fuel or adapt the engine, but yes.
You could use flour, coal dust or very finely milled sawdust in an ordinary reciprocating ICE, provided you had an injector capable of delivering the right charge.
That doesn’t mean it would work well, or wouldn’t cause problems, but you could get it to work.
All that you need is a fuel that’s finely divided (i.e., is in small particles or droplets).
You could conceivably burn much bigger things, like big chunks of coal or even tree stumps in an ICE having huge cylinders, low RPM, and a physical extractor of unburnt materials.
Wood and coal were used for a motor fuel. Basically a stove was installed maybe in the bed of a truck. The fire was burned in such a way as to produce carbon monoxide which was then vented to the engine. I don’t think it was real effecient but it did work.
Search PRODUCER GAS for details.
They did’nt mean anything that burns but more like all biomass can be used to run ICE. All biomass (woodchips, hay, etc. ) can be converted to CO or CH4 (with CO2 and water vapor) by incoplete combustion. So they would use a kettle which would be heated a lot by burning something - and inside the kettle would be the wood chips which would give the gas which can run the ICE.
I’ve heard “anything that burns will run an ECE.” or External combustion engine. Not Internal. I have heard this many times throughout engineering classes. Basically if you can get it to burn you can boil water and use that for power (steam engine). You will sometimes see old movies about steamboat or steam engine races where one side that is loosing will start chopping up his boat or train and using the wood pieces for fuel.
An ICE would need extensive modification of the engine and fuel to be able to run on ‘anything that can burn’ which simply means it can’t. You can’t put a lump of coal into the ICE and expect it to work, You can’t put a load of garbage in it and expect it to work. You can’t put sugar into it and expect it to work. yes you can convert the fuel to something that can work but you are not buring those fuels in the actual ICE.
“Hello Mrs. Gorilla.”
“Ooh, hello Mrs. Nongorilla.”
“Been shopping then?”
“No… been shopping.”
“What’d you buy?”
“A piston engine!”
“Why’s you buy a thing like that?”
“Ooh, it was a bargain!”
“…How much do you want for it?”
“Ninepence.”
“All right… How do you cook it?”
“Cook it?! You don’t cook a thing like that!”
“Well, I’m not going to eat it raw!”
A few weeks ago, there was a section on NPR’s Car Talk about wood-gas powered autos. The show’s chemistry consultant, Jim Davis, had researched it. By the way, he said Googling “wood gas” would get you lots of info. Anyway, he said the wood was heated in the absence of air in a box on the car. The resulting mixture of gases were fed into the carburetor. There was no further modification of the engine. As for the gases, most of it was carbon monoxide. Yes, it will burn! There was also some methane and assorted other hydrocarbons.
Geena Davis called in the original question. Some guy named Hans confirmed the existence of wood-chip powered cars in wartime Germany. Later, professor Jim Davis (no relation) formerly of Harvard, called to explain how it was done. I was unable to find the Jim Davis clip in my short stroll around the CarTalk site, and my Real Audio hookup was taking a nap.
My point here is to support the contention that internal combustion engines will happily run on a wide variety of fuels. Some of the very early ones developed by guys like Otto and Diesel were run on coal dust, which turned out to be a difficult and sometimes dangerous fuel. Modern diesels will cheerfully run on used filtered cooking oil.
I forget the exact circumstances, but I recall reading a quick snippet about a Frenchman who developed one of the very earliest precursors to the internal combustion engine. This was, as I recall, the late 1700s.
Anyway, the upshot was he ran it- erratically and slowly, but turning under it’s own power- on gunpowder.
No, this is incorrect. Micronized coal dust, gunpowder, high-vol wood dust, carbon, and even flour (!) have been used in experimental engines. When it gets down to it, there is not a huge difference between a 325-mesh screened dust and a liquid fuel, under the right circumstances.
