xni, A, 3 Ycasiano and Valencia: Producer-gas Plant 101 



describe. No coal is converted into gas for use in boiler fur- 

 naces. A small quantity of briquetted coal is used from time 

 to time in large plants. There is one cement rotary kiln that 

 pulverizes coal for fire in powdered form. Pulverized coal is 

 neither used in locomotives nor in any boiler installation in the 

 Philippine Islands. 



Liquid fuel. — Liquid fuel is commonly used for internal-com- 

 bustion engines. There is' no instance in which liquid fuel is 

 fired under a boiler or converted into producer gas. 



Miscellaneous fuels. — Rice husks are in extensive use in rice- 

 mill furnaces with automatic stokers. Sugar cane bagasse is in 

 general use in sugar-mill furnaces with or without automatic 

 stokers. Saw dust, shavings, etc., are in general use in lumber- 

 mill furnaces with automatic stokers. Coconut shells and husks 

 are seldom used under boilers, but find extensive use for drying 

 coconuts. 



All of the fuels above enumerated offer possibilities of econ- 

 omical use in gas producers. However, they should not be sub- 

 stituted for coal or other satisfactory fuel, until it is shown by 

 actual experiment that they cannot be used more economically 

 for other purposes. For example, it might be more profitable 

 to market portions of rice husks to be ground for use in mixed 

 stock food than to bum them under a boiler. 



DESCRIPTION OF BUREAU OF SCIENCE PRODUCER-GAS 

 POWER PLANT 



The gas producer of the Bureau of Science is of the up-draft 

 suction type. It is designed, primarily, for lignite and sub- 

 bituminous coal, which contain a high percentage of moisture 

 and volatile hydrocarbons. This producer is especially suited 

 for the use of Batan coal, which with most other Philippine coals 

 falls into the above-mentioned class. However, with proper 

 manipulations and regulations, the gas producer can be well used 

 with any coal that does not cake sufficiently to obstruct the 

 formation of gases. The plan of this producer-gas plant is 

 shown in fig. 1. 



Gas producer-. — The Bureau of Science gas producer has a 

 rated capacity of about 226 cubic meters per hour (8,000 cubic 

 feet) . The gas is used to run a four-stroke cycle 69- to 75-horse- 

 power Otto gas engine direct coupled with a 50-kilowatt con- 

 tinuous-current dynamo, which supplies light and power to the 

 Bureau of Science, the Philippine General Hospital, and some of 

 the buildings of the University of the Philippines. 



The producer proper, or gas generator, consists of an auto- 



