January 3, 1901] 



NATURE 



241 



THE USE OF BLAST-FURNACE GASES IN 

 GAS ENGINES. 



T~)URING the past year all the difficulties ia the use of blast- 

 furnace gases have successfully been overcome, and it is 

 interesting to consider the rapid progress that has been made 

 in this important development of metallurgical practice. The 

 question was first taken up by Mr. B. H. Thwaite in 1894, and 

 a 15 horse-power engine, worked by blast-furnace gas purified 

 by his apparatus, was set to work at Wishaw, in Scotland, in 

 February 1895. Since that date numerous small motors have 

 been in operation in this country using purified blast-furnace 

 gas driving machinery and dynamos. In the development of 

 large motors and in their adaptation to blowing engines Belgium 

 has taken the lead. In May 1898, Mr. A. Greiner, of the 

 Cockerill Company, described a 200 horse-power engine in 

 successful use at his works. The results attained stimulated 

 experiment in Germany and in Luxemburg. The Cockerill 

 Company, however, continued to take the initiative by starting, 

 on November 2, 1899, the largest gas engine ever built. ,On 

 May 9, 1900, Mr. Greiner described the engine to the Iron and 

 Steel Institute, and gave the results of six months' working. 

 This was the first gas engine to run the blowing engine of its 

 own furnace. Results of tests of this gas engine, by Prof. 

 Hubert, of Liege, are given in an appendix to an exhaustive 

 paper on power gas and large gas engines, read by Mr. H. A. 

 Humphrey before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on 

 December 14, 1900. The engine was designed by Mr. Dela- 

 mare-Deboutteville, and built by the Cockerill Company. It is 

 a single cylinder 600 horse-power engine, working on the Otto 

 cycle, and direct coupled to a double-acting blowing cylinder. 

 The large engine and blower shown by the Cockerill Company 

 at the Paris Exhibition was a duplicate of the one under dis- 

 cussion. It was rated at 700 horse-power on blast-furnace gas, 

 at 800 horse-power on producer gas, and at icxx) horse-power 

 on illuminating gas. In an exhaustive paper on the subject, 

 published by Prof. Joseph W. Richards in the current number 

 of the Journal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the 

 following list of blast-furnace gas engines now in operation is 

 given : — 



Seraing, Belgium 

 Differdingen, Luxemburg 



Hoerde, Westphalia ... 



Friedenshiitte, Silesia 



Oberhausen 



Dudelingen 



Kneutingen 



Roechling 



Ruhrort 

 Barrow, England 



Toula, near Moscow ... 



Island of Elba... 



The Cockerill Company is now constructing, for the Roechling 

 Ironworks in Lorraine, three 1200 horse-power gas engines. 

 They are double-cylinder tandem engines directly attached by 

 a tail rod to the blowing cylinder. The Cockerill Company 

 and Mr. Delamare-Deboutteville have now decided to build 

 engines of 2500 horse-power. They will have two tandem 

 cylinders on each side of the dynamo, giving four cylinders per 

 engine. They are designed for a central electric station. 



In view of the remarkable results already attained, there can 

 be no doubt that during the next few years the design and 

 erection of large central power-stations for the generation and 

 distribution of electric energy in bulk will be one of the most 

 important problems with which engineers will have to deal. 

 The new stations will be larger than any now existing, and 

 every possible effort will be made to reach an unprecedented 

 degree of economy in the production of power. Mr. Hum- 

 phrey's paper strongly urges the claims of the gas engine to rank 

 as a rival of the steam engine for large power units. The results 

 of a trial of a 400 horse-power Crossley gas engine carried out 

 by Mr. Humphrey are certainly most satisfactory, whilst its 

 capability for continuous work has been shown at Messrs. 

 Brunner, Mond and Co.'s works at Winnington, Cheshire, where 



NO. 1627, VOL. (ii\ 



it is used for their electrolytic plant. The employment of gas 

 engines in large central station work is, however, still very 

 limited, for out of the total of seven central stations where gas 

 motors are used, the largest has only an aggregate of 650 horse- 

 power, whilst the largest unit is of only 2CX5 horse-power. The 

 use of the waste gases from blast furnaces renders it possible to 

 have a supply of cheap fuel. This result can also, according to 

 Mr. Humphrey, be attained by the use of a Mond producer 

 plant, which is suitable for converting cheap bituminous fuels 

 into suitable gas for gas engines, and at the same time permits of 

 the recovery of the ammonia from the coal as a by-product. 



The great industrial revolution which is imminent in the 

 economical utilisation of blast-furnace gases is best shown by the 

 careful calculations made by Prof. Richards of the results that 

 would be attained by the application of this improvement to 

 American blast-furnace practice. As an illustration of average 

 practice, he takes the figures from a blast-furnace plant in 

 Eastern Pennsylvania, which is making in three furnaces 2600 

 tons of pig iron per week. The composition of the gas by 

 volume is as follows : — 



CO2 CO H N 

 9 27 I "8 62*8 



The pig iron produced daily is 370 tons ; the fuel used per 100 

 kilograms of pig iron, loo'o kilograms; carbon in fuel, 82*9 

 kilograms: carbon influx, 4*6 kilograms ; carbon in the iron, 

 3-1 kilograms ; efficiency of stoves, 60 per cent. ; efficiency of 

 boilers and engines, 4*5 percent. ; pressure oi blast, 1-3 kilo- 

 grammes per square centimetre (20 lbs. per square inch) ; and 

 temperature of blast 555° C. 



With these conditions, the calculations are as follows : — 

 Calorific power of gas per cubic metre, 873 calories ; volume 

 of gas per 100 kilograms of pig iron, 4347 cubic metres ; 

 calorific effect of gas per 100 kilogrammes of iron, 379,490 

 calories ; heat required to heat blast per 100 kilograms of iron, 

 90,500 calories ; indicated horse-power of engines for blast, 950 

 horse-power ; indicated horse-power of engines for hoist, pumps, 

 &c., per 100 tons of iron daily, 65 horse-power. _ 



From these calculations the following conclusions are arrived^ 



at :— 



Calorie*. 



Calorific effect of gases per 100 kg. of pig iron 379j49C> 

 Lost (10 per cent.) 37,950 

 For heating blast 90,500 



128,45a 



Surplus for burning develops ... 

 Surplus per 100 tons of pig iron daily 



251,040 

 251,000,000 



The horse-power at 100 per cent, efficiency would be 16,400; 

 horse-power with steam at 4I per cent, efficiency, 738 ; deficit 

 of steam power per 100 tons of iron daily, 277 horse-power ; 

 horse-power with gas engines at 30 per cent, efficiency, 4920 ; 

 surplus power with gas engines per 100 tons daily, 3900 horse- 

 power ; deficit of steam power per 370 tons daily, 1025 horse- 

 power ; surplus of gas engine power per 370 tons daily, 14,400 

 horse-power. 



It is an actual fact that at the works considered by Prof. 

 Richards the three blast furnaces are charged with 800 horse- 

 power, furnished to them by the boiler plants fired by coal. It 

 is also a fact that nearly 10,000 horse-power is raised for the 

 rest of the plant by coal-fired boilers, and that all of this could 

 be supplied by gas engines utilising the blast-furnace gases. The 

 saving in the coal bill alone would amount to at least 30,000/. 

 in one year. The gas-engine plant to accomplish this would 

 cost 100,000/. These calculations, based on average practice^ 

 bring out very clearly the great saving of power possible by the 

 economical utilisation of blast-furnace gases. 



PRIZES PROPOSED B Y THE PARIS ACAD EM V 

 OF SCIENCES FOR 1901. 



'X'HE following prizes are offered by the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences for the year 1901 : — 

 In Geometry, the Francoeur Prize (1000 fr.), for discoveries 

 or works useful to the progress of the mathematical sciences, 

 pure or applied; the Poncelet Prize (2000 fr.), with similar 

 conditions ; and in Mechanics, the Extraordinary Prize of 

 60CO francs, for progress tending to increase the efficiency of the 

 French naval forces ; the Montyon Prize (700 fr.) ; the Plumey 



