80 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



contain considerably more tlian 1 per cent of sulphur, 

 which was formerly regarded as the upper limit for gas 

 coals. As water-gas generator fuel, the coke from central 

 district coals does not usually produce as large a volume 

 of gas in a given time as some eastern cokes and the ash 

 frequently fuses to a clinker which is very obstinate to 

 handle. AVith present methods, therefore, only a few re- 

 stricted areas produce coal which is considered usable. 

 Nevertheless, even these restricted areas are capable of 

 producing much more than sufficient tonnage of coal to 

 meet the gas-making needs of this region. 



The production of central district coal for gas making 

 was greatly stimulated by the war. Transportation diffi- 

 culties and the zoning system of the Fuel Administration 

 made fuel supply conditions very critical for the gas indus- 

 try of this region. Many gas companies found it not only 

 impossible to obtain eastern coal for coal-gas manufacture, 

 but were even unable to obtain any kind of coke at all for 

 water-gas making. Their only resort was to turn to raw 

 bituminous coal, a fuel which though it had been tried by 

 some enterprising water-gas makers at various times, had 

 never been used with any marked success, on account of 

 many difficulties attending its use. With necessity as a 

 spur, liowever, many gas operators accomplished wonders. 

 They not only kept their plants in operation but were able 

 to realize economies which made the use of bituminous fuel 

 financially attractive under prevailing price conditions, 

 even when other fuels became obtainable again. It is the 

 purpose of this paper to discuss some of the problems en- 

 countered and their solutions. 



For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with 

 the water-gas process, a brief description may not be out 

 of place. The accompanying diagram illustrates the usual 

 arrangement of parts of the apparatus, though there are 

 some machines which are different in design though sim- 

 ilar in principle. The machine consists of three principal 

 chambers, the generator, carburetor, and superheater, 

 marked G. C. and S., respectively. In general these cham- 

 bers consist of cylindrical shells of heavy steel plate lined 

 with refractory blocks. The generator is the heart of the 

 gas machine. In it is a deep bed of fuel resting on a grate 

 and filling the generator nearly to the take-off connection. 



