The Washington herald., 1907-10-19
SOLVES GAS MAKING
Easily Produced at % Cents,
Says Authority.
PROF. MONROE EXPLAINS IT
Thorough and Comprehensive state
ment Proving Possibility of Giving
Washington Gas at Remarkably
Low Figure, Also Allowing Com
pany Good Margin of Profit.

With a change in the methods of man
.ufacture. Washington or any other city
could be furnished with good. Illuminating
gas at a purely nominal price say twen-
tyrfiye cents a thousand cubic feet and
the manufacturing and distributing COM
pany could make good profits on the in
Vestment for plant and output from the
saving and sale of the by-prOducts.
This is the opinion expressed yesterday
by Charles Z. Monroe, professor Of chem
istry of Georgetown University. With
Prof Monroe this is not a theory, but
the logical deduction from the facts pa
tiently gathered by the Census Bureau,
collated and edited by him. and published
recently in "a bulletin from the Census
Ofice Prof Monroe not only proves that
this ought to be so from the practice Of
the right kind of economy in manufac-
ture, but he has the experience Of three
ovens in practical operation, supplying
the cities of Baltimore. Trenton, Duluth.
and Everett. Mass
In these cities the question Of furnish
ing gas at a purely nominal price. just
about covering the cost of distribution,
has passed out of the experimental stage
into one of actual commercial stability.
Prof Monroe Explains.
In explaining how such "a condition is
TO be brought about, Prof. Monroe, in
his bulletin on the subject. places it upon
the basis Of practical economy in the
manufacture of coke and other by-prod-
Ucts. II involves merely the installation
of the right kind of ovens for reducing
coal. whereby the enormous waste of the
gas plant on the one hand and Of the
coke oven on the other, is avoided, and
all the products of the coal are separated
and made commercially profitable. The
result is a large margin Of profit from
six or more saIable commodities, OF which
gas is one of the least and may be safely
put down at a nominal price.
Prof Monroe says it is a remarkable
thing that two great processes of man
ufacture should have grown up in this
country. each the compliment of the
other. and each of which in all the years
of the past has wasted many times the
value of the product turned out. In
making gas. Prof. Monroe explained.
and some O'ler portion OF the by
products perly handled. all the rest
is " making coke in the usual
IS and all the by-products
are dissipatsd in the air
ms and lost Prof. Mon
the estimate that enough
lost in the manufacture
coal regions of Peunsyl-
OF states 10 have lighted
If the country for twenty
cost.
referred TO some sta
showed the actual produc-
products form the re-
In the year 1895. according
-ocesses. The total value
ems reported upon was
this there We're 323
--..- uI tar. which sold for $6l3, 3SS;
1885, Isl pounds of ammonium sulphate,
which sold for SSlS290 4 79146S gallons
of ammonia liquor which sold for
S76329l 4.463O62 thousand cubic feet Of
gas, which sold for SS437S7, and un-
classified products used for various pur-
poses amounting to SloS532 In value. He
said that in most cities, in the manu-
factUre of gas. far the greater part of
this value was lost in the wastefuI
process employed.
Quotes Few Figures.
Quoting a few more figures, Prof. Mon
roe said that out of all the manufac-
tories reporting TO the Census Bureau
in ls05, the actual value Of products sold
was S53. 455, los, while the possible value
from the improved processes would have
been S909fi,2H loss, economically
speaking, of nearly one-half the unman-
ufactured material
A considerable part Of the Census bull
letin referred to is taken up with a de-
scriptiOn of the apparatus necessary for
the economic reduction Of coal, so as to
save all the products This apparatus,
it is admitted. is costly. It involves the
erection Of plants which rival those Of
gas companies and even cost more, but
Professor Monroe shows that, with the
necessary outlay for the new processes,
the returns upon the investment would
be no less secure than in the manufacture
Of coke alone or of gas alone
In the reduction Of coal, coke Is the
most valuable product. but its sale at
good prices is assured everywhere. In
the new processes a portion OF the gas
residue only can be sold, but this is OF
such comparatively little worth that II
can be given away at a price which
would cover the cost Of distribution. Prof
Monroe says that in the new era OF man.
ufacture that is coming, the gas question
Will be Telegated TO oblivion, and the
great efforts of manufacturers will be
directed toward the production OF coke,
its sale for heating the amonias and
other products, and that the furnishing
of gas Will be getting rid OF the least
valuable part Of the manufacture, like
the shavings of the planning mill or tho
stale bread Of the bakery.
Prof Monroe devOtes a portionj of Ils
bulletin 10 the extended uses which may
be made Of such products as coal tar
and what may be expected from the
more intelligent use of coal in manufac.
ture. Many Of the products to be de-
rived from the new processes will sell
for high prices to be used in the arts.
with markets for them already existent
He also explains how several products
are saved from the gas In preparing il
for illumination purposes, thus adding To
the net profits
Prof. Monroe cites the three reducing
ovens Of the improved style. which have
been installed for purposes separate from
either the direct production of coke or
Illuminating gas. but in which both fig
ure largely as sources of profit
The Reducing Plant.
In Baltimore, the reducing plant is
located at Sparrows Point. in connection
with the steel works there. The gas is
carried in mains eleven miles and dis
tributed in that city for lighting pur-
poses.
large plant. located at Everett,
Mass. supplies large part of the gas
used in Boston and all Of il at Everett
and several other small cities