The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-11-07
LIGHT PROM SMOKE.
Deieinn Method 81 utulsins tAe
Waste to Proauce an mnmaa
ant ana Hent.

Nj. Tobiansky recently demonstrates.
before the Belgian Society Of Engineers.
the value of an apparatus which is ven
worth the study Of manufacturers saya
La Nature.
Smoke may be more or less invisible
but its composition A tnYariable. It s.
mede up .of duiv. ineom-
nustlble gas az Nitrogen and anhg-
bride carbohic, combustible gases such.
as oxide of carbon hydrocarb Res and
hydrogen. These represent the struc-
tuFe OF smoke, no matter how uanspa
rent it may be. The fact is, however.
that this heterogeneous mixture may be
burnt, a familiar proof OF which is given
In the paper horn, the smoke Of which IS
ignited, but after this second combus
ton the smoke is not again destroyed,
the exact point being to make the smoke
disappear absolutely and to find some
means Of making profitable use OF this
same destruction.
The method Of Nj T~obianskg Is ss fol-
lows: First, filtration Of the smoke to
rid it of ~pulFarulent matters and of the
condenaible hydrocaFBidea; second,
carhuration Of the gases to increase
their facility OF combustion. For q long
time attempts have been made to filter
the smoke BY Kidding 1t of its carbonic
acid and to do away with chimneys by
replacing them with an artificial
draught which sucks or draws back the
smoke. M. Tobiansky has combined the
two systems, and knowing that car
burated air produces an excellent gas
he oarburated the smoke which had pre-
viOusly been filtered and drawn back.
The products Of the combustion thus
treated gave him a new gas, which he
called "pyrogas," and which does not
condense. For purposes Of lighting,
heating and motor uses the method Is
invaluable and permits the utilization
of detritus of all sorts.
The operator by means of an instru-
ment of suction forces the smoke into
a filter filed with a porous substance
which is saturated with a volatile hy-
drocarbide such as naphtha or petrc-
.leum. The porous matter s a eOnbus-
tible; for example, coke, and we will see
In a moment why this is so. In passing
through the filter the smoke deposits
on the coke a portion of the hydrocar-
bides or tars which it contains, at the
same time becoming charged with the
vapOr Of the volatile ~hydrocarbides with
which the porous matter is saturated.
After filtration the smoke is only COM
posed Of cOmbustible gases, such a
oxide of carbon, ~hydrocarbide vapors
and hydrogen, and Of incombustible gas,
as nitrogen and carbonic acid.
By this method M. Tobiansky obtalUs
from smoke of all sorts the greatest pos
sible profit, utilizing first the heat which
Is present in the smoke for the purpose
Of heating the h-ydrocarbides of the a.
ter, the vOlatilization Of these hydro
Carbides being all the more complete
and their employment all the easier
since the heavy h~ydrocarbides, such as
petroleum, while being cheap, may per.
fectly answer every requirement Of this
system. The heat of the smoke warns
the water Of the refrigerator which sur
rounds the filter, and this Tot water i1
turn can feed a boiler. Finally the
porous matter, the coke ct the filter
after having been charged with con.
densed h~ydrocarbides andIwith the car
bon in suspension in thefsmOEe, forms
an excellent and very rich com5ustible
In fact, the TObiansky methcG makes
the combustion Of material employed
in whatever way as complete as posi-.
BILE, and this is no small economy wheT
one considers that in a locomotive
where all is combined to produce The
smallest loss the return is only Is PEI
cent.