Ash (fuel)

“ While, however, the nature and quantity of the ash can be determined without much difficulty, the determination of the chemical composition of coal entails considerable labor and skill; hence a method giving the calorific power of any fuel in an exact and reliable manner by a simple experiment is a great desideratum. ”

“ Another cause which is seemingly applicable in many cases is hydrostatic pressure, where under certain structural conditions the pressure of water in a long-tilted layer is exerted against oil accumulated toward the top of an anticline (or upbend) in the strata.
The world’s output of petroleum for 1917 was nearly 559,000,000 barrels, of which the United States produced nearly 338,000,000 barrels, Mexico 87,000,000 barrels, and Russia 34,000,000 barrels of 42 gallons.
Natural Gas. The most perfect fuel with which nature has provided us is natural gas. ”

“ The refining of crude oil as it is produced from the earth, consists in the classification of its various hydrocarbons by means of fractional distillation, into the various products which so largely enter into our commercial and domestic life of to-day. The refined products, in the order in which they are received by distillation, are: motor spirit, illuminating oils, solar oils, lubricating oils, fuel oils, residuum, etc.—the first mentioned being the lightest and the last the heaviest in specific gravity. ”

“ Not only is it easily transported even long distances through pipes, but also as a fuel it is easily regulated, leaves no refuse, and is less damaging to boilers than coal. It is a colorless, odorless, free-burning gas, consisting very largely of the simple hydrocarbon called marsh gas or fire damp. Petroleum nearly always has more or less natural gas associated with it, but in some cases considerable quantities of gas may exist alone. ”

“ Water-gas is of low illuminating value, but after it is carbureted it burns with a brilliant flame. The water-gas is made by raising the temperature of the fuel bed of hard coal or coke by forced air, which is then cut off, while steam is passed through the incandescent fuel. This yields hydrogen and carbon monoxide. To make carbureted water-gas, oil-gas is mixed with it, the latter being made by heating oil in retorts. ”

“ These ashes in general contain a portion of unconsumed carbon, mixed with what is chemically the ash, namely, certain incombustible salts, constituting the white part of the ashes. If, however, we heat the coal in a vessel which prevents access of air, and allows the gases to escape, the coal is decomposed much in the same way as when it is burnt in the open fire; but the products formed are no longer burnt, the supply of oxygen being cut off. ”

“ Deduction of the volatile oil, as determined in the ether extract, will give a close approximation of water. The ash portion is determined by incineration at a very low temperature, such as may be attained in a gas muffle, which is the most convenient arrangement for work of this kind. The proportion of ash insoluble in acid may be determined where there is a reason to believe that sand is present. ”

“ It was quite close to the brine well, and was carefully built over, bamboo tubes covered with lime to prevent escape ramifying from the cap covering the mouth to the evaporating sheds. There can be little doubt that the “fire wells,” which are nearly all situated within the town, contain petroleum from which the vapour or gas arising supplies the natural fuel. ”

“ The class of liquid fuels is represented chiefly by petroleum, though coal tar and water-gas tar are used to a limited extent.
Gaseous fuels are limited to natural gas, blast furnace gas and coke oven gas, the first being a natural product and the two latter by-products from industrial processes. Though waste gases from certain processes may be considered as gaseous fuels, inasmuch as the question of combustion does not enter, the methods of utilizing them differ from that for combustible gaseous fuel, and the question will be dealt with separately. ”

“ Petroleum as a Fuel and Gas-Producer.—The use of gasolene in gas-machines is well known, and sometimes naphtha has been used to enrich coal-gas, by decomposing its vapor at a cherry-red heat, so as to produce a gas rich in heavy hydrocarbons, which is mixed with the coal-gas. Crude petroleum has also been conducted continuously into red-hot cast-iron retorts, whereby it is decomposed and rich gas formed. ”

“ This astatki, or heavy petroleum refuse, is an excellent liquid fuel, and is at least twice as good as ordinary coal for steam-raising purposes. The light lubricating oils, intermediate oils, and kerosene or ordinary lamp oils are all being used at the present time instead of coal-gas in the cylinder of the internal-combustion engine. In some cases the heavier oils are converted into an oil-gas, which, when cooled, is admirably adapted to drive gas-engines. ”

“ Here the hydrogen and hydrocarbons react upon each other, producing a permanent gas, which is purified as usual. The resulting gas is of uniform quality, very pure, and the saving in labor and materials is about 35 per cent. over coal-gas (Scientific American, January 8, 1876) .
As regards the use of petroleum for fuel, it has always been found difficult to secure the complete combustion of the oil, so as to avoid smoke ”

“ As water gas, possessing these properties, may be prepared at central works and conveyed in pipes to the consumers, and as it may be produced from any kind of fuel, and ought to be much cheaper than ordinary gas, it may as a matter of fact be expected that in course of time (when experience shall have determined the cheapest and best way to prepare it) it will not only supplant ordinary gas, but will with advantage everywhere replace the ordinary forms of fuel, which in many respects are inconvenient. ”

“ The fuel to run these drills is conveyed by small pipes from adjoining wells. An 8-inch hole having been bored to a depth of about 500 feet, a 5-5/8 inch wrought-iron pipe is put down to shut off the water. The hole is then continued 6 inches in diameter until gas is struck, when a 4-inch pipe is put down. From forty to sixty days are consumed in sinking the well and striking gas. The largest well known is estimated to yield about 30,000,000 cubic feet of gas in twenty-four hours, but half of this may be considered as the product of a good well. ”

“ There are kinds of fuel other than coal, such as wood, coke, sawdust, tan bark, peat and petroleum oil and the refuse from oil. These are all burned with atmospheric air of which the oxygen combines with the combustible part of the fuel while the nitrogen passes off into the chimney as waste. ”

“ When heated in close vessels much more gas is obtained than when burnt in the open air. If moistened charcoal be put into an earthen retort and heat be applied till the retort becomes ignited; gas will be evolved, consisting partly of carbonic acid, and partly of carburetted hidrogen. A gas of similar properties is obtained by causing steam to pass through a tube filled with red-hot charcoal; by passing spirit of wine, or camphor, through red-hot tubes; by distilling oils, wood, bones, wax and tallow, or any animal or vegetable body whatever. ”

“ The crude oil is heated to the desired temperature in pipes or retorts set in a primary furnace, the hot gases of combustion from which are utilized to heat the distillation chamber proper. Entering the vertical cylinder at the top, the oil is spread over and through perforated plates falling on a cone-shaped plate to divert the continuous stream of oil to the sides of the still, down which it flows in a thin film. ”

“ It will be remembered that the amount of gas obtained by distillation, from the very best coal, ranged between 10,000 and 16,000 cubic feet. Water-gas contains as a rule 40 to 50 per cent, of hydrogen, 30 to 40 per cent, of carbonic oxide, 10 per cent, of naphtha or petroleum gas, and a few per cent, of carbonic acid. The large proportion of heavy petroleum-gas (sp. gr. 0.600 to 0.700) and carbonic oxide (sp. gr. 0.967) makes its specific gravity much heavier than that of coal gas ”

“ In most apparatus the ash-pit is hermetically sealed, and the air for supporting combustion enters below the [220] grate through a pipe leading from the heater or the vaporizer. This arrangement seems best adapted to prevent the leakage of gas which tends to take place by reaction after each suction stroke of the engine.
Ash-pits formed as water-cups, such as the Deutz (Fig. 106) , the Wiedenfeld (Fig. 95) , and the Bollinckx (Fig. 98) , are fed by the overflow from the vaporizer. These ash-pits are themselves provided with an overflow consisting of a siphon-tube forming a water-seal. ”

“ The theoretical calorific value of oil fuel is more nearly realized in practice than the theoretical calorific value of coal, because the facilities for complete combustion, due to the artificial admixture of the air by the atomizing process, are greater in the case of oil than coal, and for this reason, among others, the practical evaporative results are proportionately higher with liquid fuel. ”

“ OIL-GAS. A mixture of several gaseous hydrocarbons, obtained by passing common whale fat, resin, the heavy petroleum or shale oil, or the tarry residues left after the distillation of these two latter substances, or other cheap animal oil, through red-hot tubes, or by allowing it to fall in drops on red-hot stones or bricks arranged in an iron retort, or other suitable apparatus. The gas has great illuminating power, requires no purification, and is quite free from the ammoniacal and sulphur compounds which vitiate coal-gas. ”

“ Hence it has been termed oily carburetted hidrogen, or olifiant gas—it consists of carburetted hydrogen, supersaturated with carbon. The oil generated is heavier than water, whitish, and semi-transparent. By keeping, it becomes yellow and limpid; its smell is highly fragrant and penetrating—its taste somewhat sweet—it is partly soluble in water, imparting to it, its peculiar smell. A portion of this gas always accompanies the common carburetted hidrogen obtained from coal, and those sorts of coal that afford the largest quantity of it are best suited for the production of gas-light. ”

“ If we distill either of these more solid substances with a very gentle heat, we obtain naphtha, in which the proportion of the hydrogen to the carbon is increased to a maximum ratio. If the heat is greater, we obtain a substance of a darker colour, in which that ratio is less; and, for this reason, the distillation of asphaltum affords a darker oil than that of petroleum, because its composition cannot be dissolved but in a higher temperature. ”

“ In addition to the hydrocarbons, which are the chief constituents of petroleum, the following substances may be present: Sulphur, nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide, carbon disulphide, arsenic, and phosphorus. The carbon percentage may vary from 79.5 to 88.7 per cent.; the hydrogen from 9.6 to 14.8 per cent.; the sulphur from 0.7 to 2 per cent., and in rare cases even 3 per cent.; nitrogen from 0.008 to 1.1 per cent. The hydrocarbons of all crude petroleums fall either into the paraffin or olefin group, those of America belonging chiefly to the first and those of Russia to the second group. ”

“ In efficiency. Mere water inadequately applied feeds the fire, but carbonic acid gas never. Bulk for bulk, it is forty times as effective as water, the seventy gallons of the two smallest cylinders being equal to twenty-eight hundred gallons of water. Besides, it uses the only agent that will extinguish burning tar, oil, and other combustible fluids and vapors. One cylinder can be recharged while the other is working, thus keeping up a continuous stream.
4th. In convenience. Five or six men can draw it and manage it. ”

“ We may obtain oil from such material, but it is utterly different from any kind of mineral oil, while, on the other hand, by distilling natural bituminous shales, or cannel coal, or peat, we obtain a crude oil almost identical with natural petroleum, and the little difference between the two is perfectly accounted for by the greater rapidity of our methods of distillation as compared with the slow natural process. We may go on approximating more and more nearly to the natural petroleum by distilling more and more slowly. ”

“ The condensable vapours are principally hydro-carbon compounds which become deposited in the form of oil, and amongst a variety of deleterious substances may be mentioned as the chief: ammonia, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, and sulphuretted hydrogen, but the value of coal-gas principally depends on the presence of bicarburetted hydrogen, and the greater proportion of this the higher will be its light-giving properties. ”

“ Edward Orton, of Ohio, was the most prominent investigator in this field. In all regions where petroleum occurs the strata are not only disturbed, but they are bent into anticlinal or arch-shaped folds. If the rocks are porous the gas tends to collect at the summit of the anticlinal fold or arch, while the oil collects in the flanks of the fold. Salt water is usually associated with the gas and oil, and, being heavier, accumulates in the flanks of the anticlinal or in the neighboring synclinal folds. There is little use of searching for oil in regions where the strata are flat ”

“ Others are deprived of a part of their more volatile constituents by spontaneous evaporation, or by distillation, in vacuo or otherwise, at the lowest possible temperature. Such are known as “reduced oils”.
In most petroleum-producing countries, however, and particularly where the product is abundant, the crude oil is fractionally distilled, so as to separate it into petroleum spirit of various grades, burning oils, gas oils, lubricating oils, and (if the crude oil yields that product) paraffin. ”