OT: about coal gas and hydrogen

The Natural Philosopher · 2020-11-27T13:07:27+00:00

Really this is a separate thread response to Tim S who claimed that gas was made by pyrolizing coal to make coke.Yes, originally it was, and that gas contained not only carbon monoxide, but any volatile gaseous breakdowns of bituminous coal like methane.It was good for lighting because the sooty breakdowns of the carbon based compounds gave a yellow flame. That is 'coal gas'. A by product of coking. It contained no native hydrogen...As far as I can tellWiki says thisThe first process used was the carbonization and partial pyrolysis of coal. The off gases liberated in the high-temperature carbonization (coking) of coal in coke ovens were collected, scrubbed and used as fuel. Depending on the goal of the plant, the desired product was either a high quality coke for metallurgical use, with the gas being a side product, or the production of a high quality gas, with coke being the side product. Coke plants are typically associated with metallurgical facilities such as smelters or blast furnaces, while gas works typically served urban areas.A facility used to manufacture coal gas, carburetted water gas (CWG), and oil gas is today generally referred to as a manufactured gas plant (MGP).In the early years of MGP operations, the goal of a utility gas works was to produce the greatest amount of illuminating gas. The illuminating power of a gas was related to amount of soot-forming hydrocarbons ("illuminants") dissolved in it. These hydrocarbons gave the gas flame its characteristic bright yellow color. Gas works would typically use oily bituminous coals as feedstock. These coals would give off large amounts of volatile hydrocarbons into the coal gas, but would leave behind a crumbly, low-quality coke not suitable for metallurgical processes. Coal or coke oven gas typically had a calorific value between 10 and 20 megajoules per cubic metre (270 and 540 Btu/cu ft); with values around 20 MJ/m3 (540 Btu/cu ft) being typical.The advent of electric lighting forced utilities to...

Nov 27, 2020 Last reply: 5 years ago 20 Replies

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Nick Cat 5 years ago

Why was petrogas so unpopular? It was a regular recommendation at one point.

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OT: about coal gas and hydrogen

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