Hi everyone! You now have another crazy South African on your forums!
From my research it seems that the Geet is a Autothermal Reactor with a 'magnet?' thrown in as an unknown.
Here a link to Renault's plasma research, which I still have to read:
Now back to established tech:
Autothermal Reformation is a combination of Steam Reformation and Partial Oxidation:
Steam Reformation is the reacting of a Hydrocarbon with steam to produce Syngas.
HC + H20 + heat = H2 + CO (CO burns)
This reaction is endothermic (needs heat) and produces H2 and CO in a ratio of around 2.5 to 1.
Partial Oxidation is the reacting of a Hydrocarbon with Oxygen to produce Syngas.
HC + O2 = H2 + CO + heat
This reaction is exothermic (produces heat) and produces H2 and CO in a ratio of around 1 to 1.
The fact that one reaction is exothermic and the other is endothermic is very important to the use of this basic technology in a car:
Heat and temperature are two different things.
There is plenty of waste heat in a car exhaust, but the exhaust temperature is slightly low for the Steam Reformation reaction.
The partial oxidation reaction increases the temperature.
There is also Pyrolysis of the fuel in the Geet:
The fuel is gassified by heat; which is a known way to improve economy.
Its my considered opinion that the Geet can be improved by nickel plating the inner tube and magnet:
Nickel acts as a catayst in steam reformation.
Also; I think the use of an intercooler will increase the volume of gas that gets into the cylinder; improving power.
The cooler gasses will also be less suspectable to pre-ignition and prevent overheating.
I feel that the bubbler is just the simplest method of getting a 2 to 1 mixture of water and fuel into the engine.
There are better, but more complex, ways of getting this water/hydrocarbon mix into the engine if you are interested.
Good luck Steve.
I see no reason why this should not work for a genset.
If you plan to use this at home you can use some more of the waste heat to pre-heat the water going to your geyser.
