Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
At Messrs. Dixon's, at Glasgow, which is the smallest of these
installations, they pump and collect about 60,000,000 cubic feet of
furnace gas per day; and recover, on an average, 25,000 gallons of
furnace oils per week, using the residual gases, consisting chiefly of
carbon monoxide, as fuel for distilling and other purposes, while a
considerable yield of sulphate of ammonia is also obtained. In the
same way a small percentage of the coke ovens are fitted with
condensing gear, and produce a considerable yield of oil, for which,
however, there is a very limited market, the chief use being for
lucigen and other lamps of the same description, and for pickling
timber for railway sleepers, etc.; the result being that, four years
ago, it could be obtained in any quantity at 1/2d. per gallon, while
since that it has been as high as 21/2d. a gallon, but is now about 2d.,
and shows a falling tendency. Make a market for this product, and the
supply will be practically unlimited, as every blast furnace and coke
oven in the kingdom will put up plant for the recovery of the oil, and
as with the limited plant now at work it would be perfectly easy to
obtain 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 gallons per annum, an extension of the
recovery process would mean a supply sufficiently large to meet all
demands.
Many gas managers have, from time to time, tried if they could not use
some of their creosote for gas producing, but on heating it in
retorts, etc., they have found the result has generally been a copious
deposit of carbon, and a gas which has possessed little or no
illuminating value. Now, the furnace and coke oven oils are in
composition somewhat akin to the creosote oil, so that at first sight
it does not seem a hopeful field for search after a good carbureter,
but the furnace oils have several points in which they differ from the
coal tar products. In the first place, they contain a certain
percentage of paraffin oil, and in the next, do not contain much
naphthalene, in which the coal tar oil is especially rich, and which
would be a distinct drawback to their use.
The furnace oil as condensed contains about 30 to 50 per cent. of
water, and in any case this has to be removed by distilling; and Mr.
Staveley has patented a process by which the distillation is continued
after the water has gone off, and by condensing in a fractionating
column of special construction, he is able to remove all the paraffin
oil, a considerable quantity of cresol, a small quantity of phenol,
and about 10 per cent. of pyridine bases, leaving the remainder of the
oil in a better condition, and more valuable for pickling timber,
which is its chief use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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