Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Sunday, August 03, 2014 at 11:41:29 :
In Reply to: thnx for the op posted by clueless [201.202.29.210] on Sunday, August 03, 2014 at 11:00:42 :
In the old days, they were all wood-powered via a waste-wood boiler and steam engines. Sawmills were the last factories to give up steam, and it didn't happen until wood "waste" became too valuable to burn. I toured the big Weyerhaeuser Snoqualamie sawmill in the 1970s and it was still almost entirely steam powered. Even the bank of trim saws that cut the bad ends off the boards had a little steam turbine for each blade.
The "alternative energy" folks should keep in mind that if what you really want is wood-fired motion, you don't need to go through the complication of electricity in between. A wood-gas conversion requires a gasifier and very clean gas to avoid gunking up the engine. A steam boiler doesn't need any of that.
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