938 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



S^VKN ]?e:KT of solid lignite in the YELLOWSTONE RIVER BLUEl^S, NEAR SIDNEY, 



MONTANA 



''It should be noted that many fuels 

 which give poor results under steam 

 boilers have been used with great ease 

 and efficiency in the gas producer, which 

 thus makes it possible to utilize low- 

 grade coals and lignites that have hereto- 

 fore been regarded as practically useless. 

 Several of the poorest grades of bitu- 

 minous coals have shown remarkable 

 efficiency in the gas producer, and lig- 

 nites and peat have been used in it with 

 great facility, thus opening the way to 

 the introduction of cheap power in large 

 districts that have thus far been com- 

 mercially unimportant, owing to lack of 

 industrial opportunities." 



Although the gas producer is quite a 

 new institution, the possibilities of this 

 form of power and its ultimate future 

 is indicated by the fact that there are 

 already in the United States between 150 

 and 200 gas-producer installations, rang- 



ing in size from 1,500 to 9,000 horse- 

 power. 



The latest and perhaps most interest- 

 ing phase of the development is the 

 conversion into producer gas of the 

 waste from blast furnaces. At the Gary 

 steel plant, in Indiana, where the great 

 blast furnaces run night and day, the 

 fumes and waste which would otherwise 

 belch from the huge chimneys to pollute 

 the atmosphere are captured and con- 

 verted into producer gas to the extent of 

 creating 100,000 horse - power. This 

 suggests the fact that with the producer- 

 gas plant there is no smoke nuisance. 

 The poorest, smokiest, smudgiest coal 

 may be used, but there will be no smoke, 

 because there are no smokestacks. The 

 gas is generated in a producer which has 

 no chimney and needs none. The coal 

 is turned directly into gas, which goes 

 straight to the engine. 



