Some methods of producing gas for heating furnaces

GT V02 1961 011-022

Manufactured gases used for  heating  industrial furnaces and equipment  range from producer gas to town's  gas and  are  selected  according to the  requirements  of the heating process. The range of  different  gases which  can now  be  produced  has  been greatly  extended with the development of processes for the gasification  of  liquid fuels. This paper  reviews the methods available for gas production and deals  more  particularly  with  two-stage producer gas (Motala System) and   the M.S. oil gaszfication process. Conventional  single-stage producers  have fallen   into disfavour recently, partly  for   economic  reasons, partly because of  the dirt and labour associated with them, and also because of the necessity for the periodic burning out of gas mains when gasifying bituminous coals. The over- cracking of volatile matter which causes the  latter  is avoided in two-stage producers by separating the  two stages of gaszfication and  distillation, by the  use  of a deep, fuel bed, and by regulating the quantity of hot gas used to distil off  the volatile matter of the coal. The raw gas can be  distributed hot over long distances or, if desired, cleaning and partial or complete cooling can be practised.  Producers  of this type are limited to a fairly narrow  range of coals,  and  the  areas where these  are produced  are  indicated. The use of refinery products for  gas making opens up considerable scope for  producing  gases of a much wider range of characteristics. It is possible  to utilize a number of the products  available from the refineries including the re-forming of liquefied petroleum gases to gases of a more suitable  composition. The plants  which  have  been  developed to gasify these products  are generally  clean and very automatic, so that  they need little supervision. The technical  and economic aspects of such  processes  are discussed and  the likely fields of application outlined.

E. J. Lawton