Page:EB1911 - Volume 11.djvu/505

MANUFACTURE] through the open retort. Coal gas, being a mixture of gases and vapours of liquids having very varying boiling points, must necessarily undergo physical changes when the temperature is lowered. Vapours of liquids of high boiling point will be condensed more quickly than those having lower boiling points, but condensation of each vapour will take place in a definite ratio with the decrease of temperature, the rate being dependent upon the boiling point of the liquid from which it is formed. The result is that from the time the gaseous mixture leaves the retort it begins to deposit condensation products owing to the decrease in temperature. Condensation takes place in the ascension pipe, in the arch piece leading to the hydraulic main, and to a still greater extent in the hydraulic main itself where the gas has to pass through water.

Ascension pipes give trouble unless they are frequently cleared by an instrument called an “auger,” whilst the arch pipe is fitted with hand holes through which it may be easily cleared in case of stoppage. The most soluble of the constituents of crude coal gas is ammonia, 780 volumes of which are soluble in one volume of water at normal temperature and pressure, and the water in the hydraulic main absorbs a considerable quantity of this compound from the gas and helps to form the ammoniacal liquor, whilst, although the liquor is well agitated by the gas bubbling through it, a partial separation of tar from liquor is effected by gravitation. The liquor is run off at a constant rate from the hydraulic main to the store tank, and the gas passes from the top of the hydraulic main to the foul main.

The gas as it leaves the hydraulic main is still at a temperature of from 130° to 150° F., and should now be reduced as nearly as possible to the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. The operation of efficient condensing is not by any means as simple as might be supposed. The tar and liquor when condensed have a dissolving action on various valuable light-giving constituents of the gas, which in the ordinary way would not be deposited by the lowering of temperature, and for this reason the heavy tar, and especially that produced in the hydraulic main, should come in contact with the gas as little as possible, and condensation should take place slowly.

The main difficulty which the condenser ought to overcome and upon which its efficiency should depend is the removal of naphthalene: this compound, which is present in the gas, condenses on cooling to a solid which crystallizes out in the form of white flakes, and the trouble caused by pipe stoppages in the works as well as in the district supplied is very considerable. The higher the heat of carbonization the more naphthalene appears to be produced, and gas managers of to-day find the removal of naphthalene from the gas a difficult problem to solve. It was for some time debated as to whether naphthalene added materially to the illuminating value of the gas, and whether an endeavour should be made to carry it to the point of combustion; but it is now acknowledged that it is a troublesome impurity, and that the sooner it is extracted the better. Gas leaves the retorts saturated with naphthalene, and its capacity for holding that impurity seems to be augmented by the presence of water vapour. The condenser, by effecting the condensation of water vapour, also brings about the deposition of solid naphthalene, apart from that which naturally condenses owing to reduction of temperature.

Condensers are either air-cooled or water-cooled, or both. In the former case the gas traverses pipes exposed to the atmosphere and so placed that the resulting products of condensation may be collected at the lowest point. Water is a more efficient cooling medium than air, owing to its high specific heat, and the degree of cooling may be more easily regulated by its use. In water-cooled condensers it is usual to arrange that the water passes through a large number of small pipes contained in a larger one through which the gas flows, and as it constantly happened that condenser pipes became choked by naphthalene, the so-called reversible condenser, in which the stream of gas may be altered from time to time and the walls of the pipes cleaned by pumping tar over them, is a decided advance.

The solubility of naphthalene by various oils has led some engineers to put in naphthalene washers, in which gas is brought into contact with a heavy tar oil or certain fractions distilled from it, the latter being previously mixed with some volatile hydrocarbon to replace in the gas those illuminating vapours which the oil dissolves out; and by fractional distillation of the washing oil the naphthalene and volatile hydrocarbons are afterwards recovered.

The exhauster is practically a rotary gas pump which serves the purpose of drawing the gas from the hydraulic main through the condensers, and then forcing it through the purifying vessels to the holder. Moreover, by putting the retorts under a slight vacuum, the amount of gas produced is increased by about 12%, and is of better quality, owing to its leaving the heated retort more quickly. A horizontal compound steam-engine is usually employed to drive the exhauster.

At this point in the manufacturing process the gas has already undergone some important changes in its composition, but there yet remain impurities which must be removed, these being ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbon disulphide and carbon dioxide. Ammonia is of considerable marketable value, and even in places where the local Gas Act does not prescribe that it shall be removed, it is extracted. Sulphuretted hydrogen is a noxious impurity, and its complete removal from the gas is usually imposed by parliament. As nearly as possible all the carbon dioxide is extracted, but most gas companies are now exempt from having to purify the gas from sulphur compounds other than sulphuretted hydrogen. Cyanogen compounds also are present in the gas, and in large works, where the total quantity is sufficient, their extraction is effected for the production of either prussiate or cyanide of soda.

Atkinson Butterfield gives the composition of the gas at this point to be about It happens that ammonia, being a strong base, will effect the extraction of a certain proportion of such compounds as sulphuretted hydrogen, carbon dioxide and hydrocyanic acid, and the gas is now washed with water and ammoniacal liquor. The process is termed washing or scrubbing, and is carried out in various forms of apparatus, the efficiency of which is dependent upon the amount of contact the apparatus allows between the finely divided gas and water in a unit area and the facility with which it may be cleared out. The “Livesey” washer, a well-known type, is a rectangular cast iron vessel. The gas enters in the centre, and to make its escape again it has to pass into long wrought iron inverted troughs through perforations one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. A constant flow of liquor is regulated through the washer, and the gas, in order to pass through the perforations, drives the liquor up into the troughs. The liquor foams up owing to agitation by the finely divided streams of gas, and is brought into close contact with it. Two or three of these washers are connected in series according to the quantity of gas to be dealt with.

The final washing for ammonia is effected in an apparatus termed a “scrubber,” which is a cylindrical tower packed with boards in. thick by 11 in. broad, placed on end and close together; water is caused to flow down over the surface of these boards, the object being to break up the gas as much as possible and bring it into close contact with the water. In this wet purifying apparatus the gas is almost wholly freed from ammonia and from part of the sulphuretted hydrogen, whilst carbon dioxide and carbon disulphide are also partially extracted. The final purification is carried out in rectangular vessels, known as “dry purifiers” (fig. 8). Internally, each purifier is filled with ranges of wooden trays or sieves A, made in the form of grids (fig. 9), and covered with the purifying material B to a depth of about 6 in., the number of tiers and size of purifier boxes being proportional to the quantity of gas to be purified. The gas enters at the bottom by the pipe C, the inlet being protected from any falling material by the cover D; it forces its way upwards through all the trays until, reaching the lid or cover E, it descends by the exit tube F, which leads to the next purifier. The edges of the lid dip into an external water seal or lute G, whereby the gas is prevented from escaping.