Biogas Production In TW2000

[Poor Merchant]

And quite a few of the high-pressure generators are steam driven engines dating back to the period of 1900-1910.

While you are at it, salvage some from the non-NC Lathes and Drills used to teach basic metalworking skills in the large industrie training centers (Lehrwerkstätten) set up in the same region.

Exactly, I think in TW2000, most of the large scale high tech industrial gear is to all intents and purposes, gone. That has not been damaged by looting, exposure to the elements etc will very difficult to get running again because of supply chain problems or because of its high energy consumption.

Any logical recovery plan would probably mothball such plants (secure them, ensure the buildings remain weather proof etc) pending recovery. Early efforts would instead be directed at supporting agriculture, restoring communications and the supply chain network and basic industries and power generation. Only then would higher industries be brought back online.

This is not to say that high tech would not have it's place - just that due to lack of energy it would need to be small scale and appropriate to the task in hand. The difficulty of maintaining high tech equipment would also need to be considered. Because of this, it has always seemed to me that the initial stages in any recovery would be based on historical tech levels - if the players were to recover some crude oil (as in "Pennsylvania Crude") they couldn't just haul it off to the Chevron refinery, for instance. Surely a more atmospheric solution would be the construction of a 19th Century style refinery with its associated dangers (see this site for some interesting stuff: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/ap2926.htm )? Constructing such a facility, guarding it and sourcing supplies of raw materials could be a campaign in itself.

This has always struck me as the most interesting basis for a TW2000 campaign as the characters seek out needed parts to bring essential equipment back on line, organise security for an area etc.

 

[Schedim]

How high-tech is this? And is it possible for some internal combustion engines to run on "raw" unrefined biogas (circa 60% methane, 40% CO2)?...

You can run a gas turbine on it untreated, we have one farmsized plant here producing electricity that way. So so long the turbine works you will have an engine.

I think you can get it to about 90-95% Methane by just bubbling it through water mixed with woodash, but I guess you would need a lot of ash and water (you need to rise the pH of the water so the carbondioxide stays in the water and the methane passes through). A converted disel engine would probably run pretty well on that ... for a while at least.

If I understand correctly, biogas would probably work well for powering (or heating/lighting farms and giving them cooking stoves without the need for a generator) farms or farming villages, especially ones with livestock, as their need for energy aren't too high and the supply of manure is large. Domestic uses would probably work well with it as well, especially if the houses are designed to conserve energy (or use quite little energy due to the low economic level of a post-apocalyptic setting) and there is quite an amount of domestic waste to work with.

It is more or less so they do it in China in small villages today, and tries to do in some parts in africa. A generator will die sooner or later, but a biogas stove can stay operational for generations.