Gas plant

“ Emerson Dowson invented an apparatus for manufacturing a gas suitable for power plant, the gas being known as Producer or Poor Gas, the last term referring to its poorness in hydrogen as compared with coal and other gases. While the hydrogen is a desirable ingredient in an explosive charge, it must not form a large proportion, since under compression it renders the mixture in which it takes part dangerously combustible, and liable to spontaneous ignition before the piston has finished the compression stroke. ”

“ When the gas is used, the bell goes down and, passing the lever, opens the door to let in a small amount of carbide.
Improvements have been made in the plants and in installing them until there is less danger from explosions than formerly. Great care should be taken in operating them to avoid accidents. Since the gas is highly explosive, fire, lighted lamps and cigars must be kept away from the vicinity of all acetylene plants. Only one person should take the care of the plant, the others should understand how. ”

“ The gasholder is fitted with a telescoping vent-pipe, by which gas escapes to the open in the event of the bell being raised above a certain height. There is also an automatic cut-off of the carbide feed, which comes into operation it the gas is withdrawn too rapidly whether through leakage in the pipes or generating plant, or through the consumption being increased above the normal generating capacity of the apparatus. The gas evolved passes into a condensing or washing chamber placed beneath the gasholder tank and thence it travels to the gasholder. ”

“ At this point let us note how a gas, suitable for an engine, is manufactured at least cost, the outlay being much less than in the case of illuminating gas which represents but one third of the coal placed in the distilling retorts. Instead of this process of distillation, “producer” gas is due to a modified combustion which gasifies all the fuel. In a producer of standard type, atmospheric oxygen comes into contact with the glowing carbon of the coal or wood, forming carbon dioxide, CO2. The heat generated by this union is taken up by the carbon dioxide and the nitrogen of the supplied air. ”

“ Natural gas occurs in very large quantities in the United States, where it is conveyed through pipes under pressure for hundreds of miles, and distributed among factories and houses for driving machinery, heating, and cooking. In England and Europe the petroleum engine and coal-gas engine have been most utilised; but of late the employment of smelting-furnace gases—formerly blown into the air and wasted—and of "producer" gas has come into great favour with manufacturers. ”

“ You see, then, that every fire-place, or grate, or stove is a gas factory; but the gas is burned up as fast as it is made. The gas which is made at the gas-works is made in such a way that it is not burned at the time. It is made generally by heating coal, and is kept in large reservoirs called gasometers. From them pipes branch out in the same way that they do from water-works; and through these the gas goes all about to different buildings, as water goes in aqueduct pipes; and as the water comes out when you open the faucet, so does the gas when you open the burner. ”

“ The new art of lighting houses, streets and manufactories, with carburetted hydrogen, or coal gas, is one of those modern discoveries on which the admirers of science and the inhabitants of this country in particular, have greater reason to congratulate themselves, than any other invention or discovery of the present age. ”

“ The fuels for gas-lighting are natural gas, carbureted water-gas, and coal-gas obtained by distilling coal, but there are different methods of producing the artificial gases. Coal-gas is produced analytically by distilling certain kinds of coal, but water-gas and producer-gas are made synthetically by the action of several constituents upon one another. Carbureted water-gas is made from fixed carbon, steam, and oil and also from steam and oil. Producer-gas is made by the action of steam or air or both upon fixed carbon. ”

“ The tests in the gas producer have shown that many fuels of such low grade as to be practically valueless for steam-furnace purposes, including slack coal, bone coal, and lignite, may be economically converted into producer gas, and may thus generate sufficient power to render them of high commercial value. ”

“ The fact is, that the greater part of the carburetted hydrogen gas, capable of affording light and heat, continually escapes up the chimney, during the decomposition of the coal, whilst only [35] a small part is occasionally ignited, and exhibits the phenomena of the flame. ”

“ Gas, the staple product from the distillation of coal three-quarters of a century ago, now, to all intents and purposes, is the by-product. The world could roll along very comfortably without it. Indeed, we may have to do so in the near future when the gas is stripped of every other marketable constituent, leaving only a mixture of methane and hydrogen gases to be burned under boilers to raise steam for the generation of electricity in enormous bulk. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ellisen, of the Paris gas-works, have shown that the gases rich in carbon, such as defiant and acetylene, are developed chiefly during an interval of time, beginning half an hour after the commencement and terminating at half the whole period of distillation, while during the remainder of the time, marsh gas and hydrogen are chiefly developed, which, while possessing little illuminating power, are most advantageous for heating purposes. ”

“ Schulz, Knaudt & Co., Essen, Germany, are now producing, from the refuse of the fire-grates of the puddling and reheating furnaces, two hundred cubic metres of water-gas per hour, which contains forty-eight per cent of hydrogen, and forty-four per cent of carbonic oxide. The gas is used for welding and in the production of incandescent lights. The firm are about to build apparatus that will generate fourteen thousand cubic metres of the gas per day. ”

“ The manufacture of water-gas differs entirely from that of coal or naphtha gas. It involves the production, first, of a non-illuminating gas from steam, and, second, of petroleum, naphtha, or cannel gas, to furnish the illuminating power. ”

“ If seven bulbfuls of air be mixed with one bulbful of gas, an explosive mixture of 1 to 7 is produced, this being 294 the proportion commonly employed for street-gas. For producer-gases the preferred proportion is 1 to 1, oxygen being often added to the air in order to insure complete combustion. ”

“ It is necessary, in consequence of the abundance of charcoal in solution, to supply the gas when burning with plenty of atmospheric air, for as there is more combustible matter in a certain volume of it, than in an equal volume of coal gas, it of necessity must have more oxigen for its consumption. ”

“ When the steam from the boiler is allowed to flow into the 35ash pit of the producer and up through the incandescent fuel, the heat separates the water vapor into its two elements, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen set free combines with the carbon in the coal forming more carbon monoxide, while the hydrogen which is unaffected by the combustion adds to the heat value of the gas. ”

“ Either petroleum or some of the products of its distillation at a low temperature, as naphtha, rhigolene, gasolene, etc., may be used in the manufacture of gas. These products are of little commercial value as compared with those, like kerosene, which are produced at a higher temperature, but for this reason they are of especial value for the manufacture of gas. The principles on which the manufacture of petroleum-gas depends do not differ much from those involved in the making of coal-gas. ”

“ When we consider the before mentioned varieties of coal in an economical point of view, as fuel to be used in the gas-light process, for heating the retorts, it appears from a series of experiments that have been made under my direction, that the second class of coal comprehending those varieties which contain a larger quantity of carbon than bitumen (p. 45,) afford the most economical fuel, they act less on the grate bars, and fire bricks of the furnace than those varieties which take fire easily and burn briskly with a strong blaze. ”

“ It may be well to recall here that coal is not the only fuel which lends itself to the generation of gas suitable for driving engines, but that some generators are able to utilize lignite, peat, and the like. ”

“ But meanwhile many valuable experiments as to its production and adaptation were going on. The most productive source of illuminating gas was found to be bituminous coal. Though gas could be produced by distillation from other substances, such as shale, lignite, petroleum, water, turf, resins, oils, and fats, none could compete in quality, quantity, and economy with what is known as ordinary coal gas, at least, not until the time came, quite late in the century, when it was found that non-luminous gases, such as water gas, could be rendered luminous by impregnating them with hydrocarbon vapor. ”

“ But as the gas is at present supposed to be the only object in view, for the sake of the light which it yields, the other products being only accidentally connected with its extraction, let us leave the idea of profit on them out of the question, and with the utmost latitude of concession, require them only to stand as in part for a portion of the coal employed in the process, we have still the gas, an article which performs the functions of the oil, the tallow, or the wax for which it is substituted ”

“ Its next use for manufacturing purposes was made in a rolling mill in Armstrong county, Penn., in 1874, forty-seven years after it had been used at Fredonia, and twenty-nine years after it had been used to boil salt.
Now the use of natural gas as manufacturing fuel is universal, not alone over the spot where the gas is found, but in localities hundreds of miles away. It is one of the strangest developments of modern scientific ingenuity. ”

“ Natural Gas as a Source of Fuel.—An important change in the conditions of manufacturing in Pittsburg is promised by the introduction of natural gas as fuel in place of coal. The gas, which is principally carbureted hydrogen, or the fire-damp of the mines, is obtained abundantly in the neighborhood of the city, and even within its corporate limits, by boring wells. ”

“ J. and P. Taylor [57] are the first persons who have resorted to oil as a substance from which gas for illumination could be easily and cheaply prepared; and in the construction of a convenient apparatus for the decomposition of this body, they have fully shewn its numerous advantages over coal, while they have afforded the means of producing the most pure and brilliant flame from the inferior and cheap oils, which could not be used in lamps. The apparatus for the purpose is much smaller, much simpler, and yet equally effectual, with the best coal gas apparatus. ”

“ THE NATURAL-GAS SUPPLY.—At the recent meeting in New York of the American Geological Society, Prof. Edward Orton, State Geologist of Ohio, and a professor in the State University, in his paper answered those who claim that the great natural gas fields of the country are practically inexhaustible, and that nature is manufacturing the gas by chemical combination in the subterranean cavities as rapidly as it is consumed by man at the surface. ”

“ Practically every shipment out of several hundred tested in the gas producers, including coals as high in ash content as 45%, and lignites and peats high in moisture, has been successfully converted into producer gas which has been used in operating gas engines. ”

“ PART XIV. Illuminating power of Coal Gas, and quantity of Gas consumed in a given time, by different kinds of Burners, and Gas Lamps. The illuminating power of coal gas, differs according to the nature of the coal from which it is obtained, and the manner in which it is purified, together with the quantity of naptha or essential oil chemically combined, or mechanically suspended in the gas. For if the gas be strongly agitated with water, its illuminating power is diminished. ”

“ And so true is this, that if a main were to descend 100 feet below the base of the gas holder, and if the pressure of the gas in the main was only equal to sustain a column of water half an inch in height, the gas lamps could not be lighted at all, at a point so low, because the pressure of the gas is then in an equilibrium with the pressure of the atmosphere. Hence in lighting a town or district with coal gas, the best situation for the gas apparatus, as far at least as it regards the economy of the mains for distributing the gas, is the lowest part of the town or district. ”

“ This is not yet eighty years ago, and amongst the many wonderful things which have sprung up during the present century, perhaps we may place in the foremost rank for actual utility, the gas extracted from coal, conveyed as it is through miles upon miles of underground pipes into the very homes of the people, and constituting now almost as much a necessity of a comfortable existence as water itself. ”

“ A well known gas producer for small scale use is Dowson's. Steam is superheated in a coil of pipe, and blown through glowing anthracite along with air. The gas which comes off consists of 20 per cent. hydrogen, 30 per cent. carbonic oxide, 3 per cent. carbonic acid, and 47 per cent. nitrogen. It is a weak gas, but it serves for gas engines, and is used, I believe, by Thompson, of Leeds, for firing glass and pottery in a gas kiln. It is said to cost 4d. per 1,000 ft., and to be half as good as coal gas.
For furnace work, where gas is needed in large quantities, it must be made on the spot. ”