Our team of scientists have written more than one hundred papers on topics related to renewable fuels and the technologies for producing and using them. We are still in the process of organizing and posting them to this site. Please check back here for more updates. Thank you.

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THE HIGH HEAT OF FAST PYROLYSIS FOR LARGE PARTICLES
Thomas B. Reed & Siddhartha Gaur
[200KB Word Doc]

ABSTRACT: The heat FOR pyrolysis, hp, (including sensible heats required to raise the reactants to pyrolysis temperature; the heat OF pyrolysis, Dhp; and the heat to raise the products to the surface temperature) is an important value required for the science and engineering of biomass thermal conversion. Yet only a few scattered values exist in the literature and it is not a simple value to measure or calculate.

A novel “water tracer” method of measurement of the heat FOR pyrolysis has been tested and the results are presented here.

BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TOM REED'S WORKS
[56KB Word Doc]

A) Biomass and Fuels
B) Materials Science
C) Patents and Processes
D) Books and Book Chapters

SUPERFICIAL VELOCITY - THE KEY TO DOWNDRAFT GASIFICATION
T. B. Reed, R. Walt, S. Ellis, A. Das, S. Deutch
[775KB Word Doc]

The “superficial velocity” (hearth load) of a gasifier is the most important measure of its performance, controlling gas production rate, gas energy content, fuel consumption rate, power output, and char and tar production rate.

*Presented at 4th Biomass Conference of the Americas; Oakland, CA, 8/29/99

BIO-DIESEL IN THE KITCHEN
[31KB Word Doc]

TO: People interested in making Biodiesel
FROM: Thomas B. Reed, the Biomass Energy Foundation
SUBJECT: Making Bio-diesel in the kitchen

A WOOD-GAS STOVE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
T. B. Reed and Ronal Larson
[264KB ADOBE ACROBAT]

ABSTRACT: Through the millennia wood stoves for cooking have been notoriously inefficient and slow. Electricity, gas or liquid fuels are preferred for cooking - when they can be obtained. In the last few decades a number of improvements have been made in woodstoves, but still the improved wood stoves are difficult to control and manufacture and are often not accepted by the cook.
Gasification of wood (or other biomass) offers the possibility of cleaner, better controlled gas cooking for developing countries. In this paper we describe a wood gas stove based on a new, simplified wood gasifier. It offers the advantages of “cooking with gas” while using a wide variety of biomass fuels. Gas for the stove is generated using the “inverted downdraft gasifier” principle. In one mode of operation it also produces 20-25% charcoal (dry basis). The stove operates using natural convection only. It achieves clean “blue flame” combustion using an “air wick” that optimizes draft and stabilizes the flame position. The emissions from the close coupled gasifier-burner are quite low and the stove can be operated indoors.

Presented at the “Developments in Thermochemical Biomass Conversion” Conference, Banff, Canada, 20-24 May, 1996.
Keywords: inverted downdraft, gasifier, domestic cooking stove, natural draft

TESTING & MODELING THE WOOD-GAS TURBO STOVE
T. B. Reed, E. Anselmoa and K. Kircherc
[289KB ADOBE ACROBAT]

Through the millennia wood stoves for cooking have been notoriously inefficient,
unhealthy and slow.
A new “wood-gas” cook stove has been developed that has >30% thermal efficiency, can be started, operated and stopped with very low emissions and can use a wide variety of biomass fuels. This “Turbo Stove” operates with 3 W of blower power or other air supply to produce 1-3 kWthermal for cooking. It is simple and inexpensive to build. Data is presented for this stove on a wide variety of fuels. The stove will bring a liter of water to boil in 4-10 minutes and can be turned down to the simmer level for longer cooking and increased efficiency.
The stove operates in several different gasification and combustion modes. In the “volatile burning” mode, the stove makes 18-25% charcoal from biomass fuels. In the “charcoal burning mode” the charcoal is gasified to produce a CO flame. If longer cooking is required, additional fuel can be fed from above, but other modes require more operator skill.

Presented at the Progresss in Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Conference, Sept. 17-22, 2000, Tyrol, Austria.

UNDERSTANDING BIOMASS GASIFICATION
Thomas Reed, Alia Ghandour
[218KB POWER POINT]