can a diesel engine run on wood gas
Wood gas Wood gasifiers can power either spark ignition engines, where 100% of the normal fuel can be replaced with little change to the carburation, or in a Diesel engine, feeding the gas into the air inlet that is modified to have a throttle valve, if it didn't have it already. On Diesel engines the Diesel fuel is still needed to ignite the gas mixture, so a mechanically regulated Diesel engine's "stop" linkage and probably "throttle" linkage must be modified to always give the engine a little bit of injected fuel, often under the standard idle per-injection volume. Wood can be used to power cars with ordinary internal combustion engines if a wood gasifier is attached. This was quite popular during World War II in several European, African and Asian countries, because the war prevented easy and cost-effective access to oil. In more recent times, wood gas has been suggested as a clean and efficient method to heat and cook in developing countries, or even to produce electricity when combined with an internal combustion engine. Compared to World War II technology, gasifiers have become less dependent on constant attention due to the use of sophisticated electronic control systems, but it remains difficult to get clean gas from them. Purification of the gas and feeding it into natural gas pipelines is one variant to link it to the existing refueling infrastructure. Liquefaction by the Fischer–Tropsch process is another possibility.
World energy resources Coal is the most abundant and burned fossil fuel. This was the fuel that launched the industrial revolution and has continued to grow in use; China, which already has many of the world's most polluted cities,[4] was in 2007 building about two coal-fired power plants every week.[5][6] Coal is the fastest growing fossil fuel and its large reserves would make it a popular candidate to meet the energy demand of the global community, short of global warming concerns and other pollutants.[7] According to the International Energy Agency the proven reserves of coal are around 909 billion tonnes, which could sustain the current production rate for 155 years,[8] although at a 5% growth per annum this would be reduced to 45 years, or until 2051. With the Fischer- Tropsch process it is possible to make liquid fuels such as diesel and jet fuel from coal. In the United States, 49% of electricity generation comes from burning coal.[9]