The residuals also had to be move along or they would constitute a space burden, an obstacle to movement around the gas yard, and the liquids would obstruct operations even more profoundly. Owners, operators and managers of gas works had a variety of available options before them. Some residuals could be utilized or sold as by-products and some residuals patently were valueless wastes. Today we are very much concerned about the gas making residuals that were deemed to be unsalable wastes by the works management. These wastes had particular physical and chemical characteristics that made them just as dangerous at the time of their creation as they are today.
Gas Works No.
This plant was built as a new replacement of the 1860 coal gas plant constructed at another location in Hannibal. Shown is the By-products Building, beginning, at street side, with the Condensing House, the Exhauster Room and the Ammonia Still House. Red sandstone was used to construct the 1870s coal gas plant at Ripley, Michigan, preserving the typical high arched windows typical of 19th century gas plants. The current standard of practice is that sufficient literature and records search work should be performed to detect the presence and layout of gas works over their operating lives. Gas works management had to make a choice of waste management fate, as required by their circumstances, and the choice literally due on the day the wastes were created.