Improvements in the Manufacture or Production of Illuminating Gas from Liquid Hydrocarbons, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 15th Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture or Production of Illuminating Gas
from Liquid Hydrocarbons, and Apparatus therefor.
I, VIVIAN BYAM LEWES, of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in the
County of Kent, Professor of Chemistry, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
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In the Specification of a former application for Patent No. 21598 of 1891 I
have described a combined process of manufacturing or producing carburetted
hydrogen by cracking" or decomposing liquid hydrocarbons in the presence of
water gas and red hot or incandescent fuel and diluting the resulting gas by mixing
it with hydrogen simultaneously produced in a separate generator by the action of
steam on heated iron. Now I have discovered since the date of my said Patent
that part of the said combined process, namely the method of
cracking or
decomposing crude oils and hydrocarbon oils of considerable density, such for
examples as crude petroleum, may in the manner hereinafter described be used
otherwise than as a part of the combined process described in my said previous
Specification so as to produce therefrom combustible permanent gases of high
illuminating value, and which may be used per se, or for enriching coal gas, or
for carburetting water gas, hydrogen, or other non-luminous gases.
In the processes heretofore proposed to be used for decomposing crude hydro-
carbon oils or liquid hydrocarbons so as to obtain from them gases of high illu-
minating value, retorts have been employed in such a manner that the deposition
of carbon and pitch has been so great as to rapidly choke the retorts and tubes or
superheating chambers used in the manufacture, and when it has been attempted to
decompose the oil by allowing it to flow by gravity into a mass of incandescent
or red hot fuel, the decomposition has been carried too far so that the hydro-,
carbon gases valuable for illuminating purposes have been decomposed into others
of low light giving power. The processes so proposed for use have been unsuccessful
because proper provision has not been made for carrying them into effect at the
high temperatures that are necessary.
I have ascertained that when oil of the kind mentioned is injected with super-
heated steam at considerable pressure, into incandescent fuel within a suitable
vessel such as is hereinafter referred to (which is provided with means for
introducing blasts of air) the steam attacks the red hot carbon of the fuel, forming
water gas, which protects and dilutes the vaporising oil; the decomposition thereof
is arrested before it has gone too far, and as a result I am enabled successfully to
obtain a permanent gas of high illuminating value, whilst the, carbon and pitch
deposited from the oil when cracked "remain with and increase the quantity of
fuel in the gas producer or generator instead of choking the apparatus as
heretofore.
An additional quantity of steam may with advantage be injected into the incan
descent fuel at a point below that at which the oil is injected. This additional
steam is converted by the incandescent fuel into water gas, and serves to sweep up
the hydrocarbons and drive the oil gas out of the fuel.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side clevation ;
Fig. 2 an end elevation; and
Fig. 3 a plan of apparatus suitable for carrying out my invention, in which I
provide for the introduction of currents of air which when the temperature of the
fuel falls too lave raise it to incandescence and enable the process to be carried on

page_text: 1 is a gas generator comprising an outer metal casing lined with refractory
material and provided with an inlet 2 for fuel and an outlet 3 for clinker both
normally closed by doors 2" and 3" respectively. 4 is a pipe through which air
can be blown into the lower end of the gas generator. 5 is a pipe with valve 6
connecting the top of the gas generator with the top of an iron fixing retort 7
which may be used in connection with the gas generator 1 and which is located
within a suitable furnace or combustion chamber 8 (hereinafter referred to as the
superheater furnace) provided with an exit flue 9. 7" is the outlet of the retort.
10 is a pipe provided with a valve 11 and arranged to connect the top of the gas
generator with the ash pit below the fire grate bars 8 in the superheater furnace 8.
12 is a steam superheating coil-like chamber or coil (hereinafter referred to as the
superheater) that may be cast in the wall of the retort or be embedded in a thick
mass of iron or other suitable material to prevent its being burnt. This superheater
is connected with a suitable steam generator, not shown, and with a steam supply
pipe 13 provided with a cock 14. 15 is an oil supply pipe provided with a cock 16
and with branches 15" and 15 that are connected respectively with two
injectors 17, 17ª which may advantageously be arranged to discharge liquid hydro-
carbons into the incandescent fuel in the gas generator at points about midway in
the height of the said gas generator as shown. The steam supply pipe 13 is con-
nected by branches 18 with the two injectors 17, 17"; it is also connected by a
branch 19 having a cock 19*, with a nozzle at 20 located near the bottom of the
gas generator.
The mode of working and the action of the apparatus are as follows:-
Carbonaceous fuel such as coke is introduced into the gas generator 1 and raised
to incandescence by a blast of air forced through the pipe 4 from a suitable blower.
The products of combustion, largely consisting of carbon monoxide and nitrogen
are led through the pipe 10 past the valve 11, which is then open, to the super-
heater furnace 8 the combustion of solid fuel in which is supplemented by the
combustion of the carbon monoxide in the said products. By this means the fixing
retort 7 and superheater 12 are heated to the required temperature. The air blast
is then cut off, and the steam and liquid hydrocarbon supply turned on.
Steam
under pressure is then driven through the superheater and into the pipe 13 whence
part passes through the injectors 17, 17" into the incandescent fuel in the gas
generator, spraying in at the same time liquid hydrocarbon which is fed to the
injectors through the supply pipe 15, whilst from time to time as may be required
steam can be admitted through the branch 19 and nozzle 20 into the lower part of
the gas generator.
I have obtained satisfactory results by injecting oil such as crude petroleum by
means of steam at a pressure of about one hundred and twenty pounds to the
square inch and heated to a temperature of about 400° C.
By thus injecting the oil into the mass of incandescent fuel, it is "cracked" to
gas, auy carbon, pitch, or the like, merely adding to the fuel in the gas generator,
whilst over-cracking" is prevented by the simultaneous generation of water gas
from the steam used in injecting. The oil gas thus formed flows from the top of
the generator through the pipe 5 to the fixing retort 7, and this being kept at an
approximately constant high temperature of say about 1000° C., uniformly fixes
the gas so as to produce a permanent illuminating gas.
Steam may from time to time be also injected through the nozzle 20 into the
incandescent fuel at a point below that at which the liquid hydrocarbons are being
cracked, and in case of overheating or at the end of each run, the hydrocarbons in
the gas generator may be swept out by an uprush of water gas produced by the
decomposition of the steam thus injected.
The production of oil gas in the manner described may be advantageously
continued until the temperature of the fuel in the gas producer has fallen below the
required point and then the steam and liquid hydrocarbons should be shut off and
the various connections adjusted as before for the passage of the air blast in order
to again raise the fuel in the gas generator to the desired degree of incandescence.

page_text: The relative quantities of the steam and hydrocarbon admitted through the
njectors into the incandescent fuel should be so regulated that the gas generated in.
he fuel chamber 1 shall be of a brown color. This may be determined by
providing the gas pipe 6 and the outlet 7 each with a pet cock through which a
If the gas thus
small quantity of gas can be allowed to escape from time to time.
allowed to escape be white, it indicates that the oil is not sufficiently cracked,
and the proportion of steam should be reduced; if the gas be black and "sooty
it indicates that the oil is being over-cracked and the proportion of steam should be
increased.
In some cases the blasts of air may be heated, but in the apparatus used by me-
in the manner above described I find that blasts of air may be employed at the
ordinary temperatures.
I am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to produce illuminating gas
from oils of the kind hereinbefore mentioned by injecting the oil with steam through
red hot tubes, into closed chambers or retorts but this method has not been
successful because the steam has injuriously attacked the oil, whereas by injecting
the oil and steam into incandescent fuel by my method, the steam attacks the red
bot carbon in the fuel in preference to the oil with the result that a permanent gas
of high illuminating value can be obtained.
I am also aware that it has been proposed to inject liquid hydrocarbon with.
steam into the mass of incandescent fuel remaining in the retorts, ordinarily
employed in producing illuminating gas from coal, after the volatile gases have
been practically driven off from such coal by external heat, but such propositions-
have not been successfully carried into practice because as before stated proper
provision has not been made to obviate the difficulties which are caused by the
rapid lowering of the temperature of the fuel, which in practice would fall to a
point below that at which the decomposition can be successfully carried out and by
the absence of means such as are employed by me for raising as required the fuel
to a suitable state of incandescence.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The herein described method of manufacturing or producing an illuminating
gas from liquid hydrocarbons such as referred to, by injecting the said liquid
hydrocarbons with superheated steam into a mass of fuel raised to a state of
incandescence by blowing air into the gas generator from time to time as set forth..
2. The method of manufacturing or producing illuminating gas from liquid
hydrocarbons by injecting the said hydrocarbons with superheated steam into a
mass of fuel raised to a state of incandescence by blowing air into the generating
vessel or chamber from time to time (as set forth in the preceding claim), and
injecting steam from time to time as may be required into the incandescent fuel at
a point below that at which the liquid hydrocarbon is being cracked, so that when
desired, the hydrocarbon gases in the gas generator can be removed by an uprush
of water gas produced by the decomposition of the steam thus injected.
3. The use of improved apparatus constructed arranged and operating substan-
tially as described and shown for the manufacture or production of an illuminating
gas from liquid hydrocarbons in the manner set forth.
Dated this 10th day of September 1892.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.