EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF STRAW GAS. 5 
Straw gas burns with a beautiful blue flame in a Bunsen "burner, 
hot plate, reflector stove, etc. It produces a very satisfactory light 
in a mantle lamp and has good heating value. It is also very 
satisfactory for operating stationary internal-combustion engines, 
giving the best results when admitted to the explosion chamber 
with the addition of but little air and ignited under a compres- 
sion greater than that found in the ordinary type of farm engine. 
The gas is practically colorless, but has a slight odor. The presence 
of a fairly high percentage of carbon monoxid (highly poisonous) 
in the gas makes advisable some care in its production and utilization. 
PROBABLE ANNUAL CONSUMPTION OF GAS ON AVERAGE NORTH- 
ERN FARM. 
As fuel for cooking and lighting purposes in the home, for heating 
the house, and for heating water, about 300,000 cubic feet of straw 
gas would be consumed } T early.on the average northern farm. This 
computation is made on the basis that 150 cubic feet of gas is re- 
quired for the daily preparation of three meals, each mantle lamp 
consuming 4, each heating stove 20, and a water heater 50 cubic feet 
of gas per hour. Of these 300,000 cubic feet of gas, about 55,000 
cubic feet would be utilized for cooking, 17,000 cubic feet for light- 
ing, 201,000 cubic feet for heating the home, and 27,000 cubic feet 
for heating water. With the quantity used for cooking and water 
heating remaining practically constant throughout the year and 
that for lighting and home heating being greatest during the winter, 
about 235 cubic feet of gas would be used daily during the summer 
months and 1,750 cubic feet daily during the winter months. In case 
the gas is to be used for ironing and for stationary power purposes 
or for heating and lighting several buildings, the yearly requirement 
would be greater than 300,000 cubic feet. 
From 45 to 50 tons of dry straw would be needed for the produc- 
tion of 300,000 cubic feet of purified gas, allowing 30 tons as the 
aggregate charge to be carbonized, and 15 to 20 tons as fuel for sup- 
plying the necessary heat for the destructive distillation of that 
quantity. Approximately one-half ton of straw when burned in the 
fire box will produce enough heat to carbonize 1 ton of straw in the 
retort. Assuming that small grains yield on the average 1.14 tons 
of straw an acre, each farm would need from 40 to 45 acres in small 
grains for the production of gas alone, or 19 to 21 acres of corn, al- 
lowing an average of about 2.4 tons of stover an acre. 
Air-driecl wheat straw has a heating value of about 6,000 British 
thermal units per pound. Therefore, when this straw is burned in 
the fire box as fuel for carrying on the process, approximately 
6,000,000 British thermal units are used in carbonizing 1 ton of 
straw. 
Using gas already stored in the gasometer as a fuel for continuing 
the process, 3,000 cubic feet of it (representing 1,200,000 British 
thermal units) burned in the gas burners of the fire box will car- 
bonize 1 ton of straw. Reduced to terms of straw, this 3,000 cubic 
feet of gas is equivalent to 600 pounds of straw. Therefore, the 
continuation of the carbonizing process by means of gas already 
produced results in a material saving in straw and at the same time 
conserves by-products which otherwise would be lost. Also, it is 
61633°— 23 2 
