Wood-Gas Truck on Display at N.Y. State Fair

Teacher and student to illustrate power by biomass
8/19/2010

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) will display a truck that runs on wood at the New York State Fair Sept. 3.

The customized 1969 GMC pickup truck that runs on gasified wood traveled 420 miles from Syracuse to Massena, N.Y., to demonstrate the use of wood and other biomass to power vehicles, machinery, and generators for electricity or heat. The truck will be on display at the state fair Sept. 3 as part of ESF's Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering display .

Fairgoers will be able to ask questions of truck owner and Ph.D. student Rick Bates and his teacher, Dr. Klaus Doelle, and take an up-close look at the components that make it work.

Doelle and Bates made the round trip from the ESF campus in Syracuse to a wood pellet manufacturer in Massena in mid-July. It took 525 pounds of wood (carried in a vehicle following the wood truck); that works out to one and a quarter pounds of wood per mile.

Doelle said, "We want to test out all types of lignocellulosic biomass, run it in the gasifier, prove the concept and also improve the efficiency of the gasifier operation to get more energy out of the feedstock."

In addition to displaying the truck that runs on wood gas, the ESF Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering will help fairgoers make their own paper.