Gases and of Withdrawing Gases.
Year: 1885

page_text: Gases and of Withdrawing Gases.
I, HEINRICH STIER, Engineer, a subject of the King of Saxony, residing at
Zwickau in the Kingdom of Saxony and Empire of Germany 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 :-
This invention has reference to a new method for carrying out the processes of
withdrawing gases and of reducing to the gaseous state.
All apparatus hitherto employed for the processes of withdrawing gases by direct
nction are composed of distilling chambers to receive the material to be operated
upon, and of generators (gas furnaces, steam boilers, overheaters) for producing the
working means, in the case of an indirect action these apparatuses are composed of
the above said chambers in combination with heating pipes for conducting and
guiding the operation.
Each of the two component parts serves always, according to its destination and
denomination, for the same purpose. The utilization of brown coal of a bad quality,
pit-coal, tailings, coal slate and the like according to the processes and with the
apparatus hitherto known is not economical. For this reason these materials
have not been utilized which evidently involves a considerable economic loss.
In consequence of the application of carboniferous raw materials especially when
they are of a bad, pulverulent or arenaceous quality the generators ordinarily
employed are often stopped up whereby interruptions in the working of the
generators are frequently produced. Raw materials of a bad quality and of little
value cannot therefore be employed, because they contain too much incombustible
material and because their removal out of continuously working generators is too
difficult.
The new process is based upon the fact, that the distilled products even from
carboniferous materials of very little value, contain a sufficient and even larger
quantity of carbon than is necessary for their gasification (production of heating
gas or complete combustion) for distilling for example an equal large quantity;
the improved process is furthermore based upon the arrangement by means of

page_text: which in utilizing the above mentioned fact, the processes of gasification and
of distillation act mutually the one upon the other. A periodical process of
gasification takes place at the same time, whereby an economical extraction of
products of distillation, of distilled products and of products of gasification is
obtained.
When the raw material contains a large quantity of water and of ashes, the
remains of the distillation, that is to say the distilled products will be without
value or of little value, while the small quantity of carbon, which when gasified
effects the distillation of other raw materials, is utilized by this fact. But when
the raw material is proportionally rich in carbon, the distillation or the abstraction
of gases (the charges being of equal quantity) to be effected by means of the
gasification is considerably quickened, and distilled materials may then be obtained
at the same time without any inconvenience by withdrawing the whole distilled
product out of the chamber and in replacing the same by fresh material or in
reducing the quantity to be gasified, for example by withdrawing the same.
The apparatus serving for carrying out this process consists of consecutive
chambers of the same construction and provided uniformly with all devices which
are necessary for introducing raw materials, air or vapour according to the case,
and also for removing the products of distillation, the distilled products and the
products of gasification. The apparatus are set at work in two different ways.
For the indirect distillation, which is effected by the heat of the products
resulting from the gasification (production of heating gas or real combustion) and
penetrating for example through the partition walls, true furnaces of distillation
(coke furnaces) can be employed. These furnaces may be of a vertical construction
according to the system of Appolt, Bauer, Otto etcetera, or of a sloping construction
according to the system of Dubochet, Lurmann and others, provided they have
inlet openings for air (L) or steam (D) and devices for the escape of the heating
gases (or products of combustion) VP out of the chambers as shown in the
Figures 23 to 28, or provided furthermore, that the flues surrounding the several
chambers will be arranged in such a manner that they can serve as conduits for
the products of distillation: for which purpose they should be placed in suitable
communication with the chambers for example by means of openings Oe in the
walls of the chambers. The figures 1 to 10 show other arrangements disposed in
series and in concentric groups. K or K¹ are the chambers which are separated
one from the other only by a partition-wall and which are provided with
escapes D P or VP for the products of distillation or of gasification and with
openings for charging (F) and for discharging (E).
In this arrangement the gasification takes place in the chambers K while in the
chambers K¹ the distillation takes place and vice versa. The arrangement is the
same, when ordinary coke furnaces of vertical or sloping construction are employed
which are disposed side by side; and there is only one difference in the uew
arrangement; each of the several chambers K, K¹, K, K¹ is separated only by a
partition wall, while in the first construction flues are arranged between the
several chambers.
The products of gasification formed in the chambers K (or K¹) pass in the coke
furnaces through the openings Oe into the flues, distilling the contents of the
neighbouring chambers K¹ (or K), while this operation is effected in the new
furnaces by the heat escaping from the gasifying chambers and passing through
the partition walls K¹ K K¹ K. The products of gasification are drawn off
through the same way, through which flow in the coke furnaces the gases of com-
bustion, or special arrangements (D P) are made for this purpose and connected
with the chambers (see Figures 23 to 28). The products of distillation are taken
off either together with the products of gasification, or as shown in the Figures 1,
3, 4, 9 and 10 by means of devices D P (in the latter case the openings O e in the
chambers should be closed during the process of distillation).
When the duration of the gasification in the chamber K (or K¹) or the heat
of the products of the same is sufficient for distilling several charges in K

page_text: |(or K) (which will usually be the case with coal or materials containing a large
quantity of carbon) the charges first distilled can be taken off and fresh charges
introduced and so forth, until a last distilled charge remains for reversing the
order of the operation in the chambers and for operating the following gasification
in K (or K) whereupon the order of the operation is reversed again and so forth.
The employed material can be of different nature, it may be that which is
employed for manufacturing coke and that which is gasified (coal of a bad quality
and not caking, tailings, coal-slate, peat, brown-coal and rubbish of these
materials).
In the direct distillation where the products of gasification flow through the
introduced fresh material in distilling the same, two chambers communicating one
with the other, work always together in such a way, that the gasification takes
place in one of these chambers, while in the other the process of distillation is carried
out by means of the action of the products coming from the first chamber.
Supposing the chamber K contains distilled material and the chamber K³ fresh
material (Figures 11 to 14).
By the entrance of air (or vapor) at L or (D) the contents of the chamber K² are
gasified, the contents of the chamber K³ are then distilled in consequence of the
passage of the products of gasification through this chamber, whilst the volatile
products escape through V P. If the material in K2 is consumed when the
distillation in K³ is finished, the chamber K³ is charged again and the gasification
recommences in K³ in distilling the material in the chamber K2, the order of the
operations is then reversed again and so forth.
If the material in K2 is not yet .consumed (only the half for instance when the
gasification in K³ is finished, the distilled material may be withdrawn from the
chamber K³ (production of coke), this chamber is then charged again, the fresh
material is distilled in continuing the gasification in the chamber K² and the latter,
if the contents of the chamber K² be now consumed, is charged again after removal
of the remains. The contents of K² are distilled by the process of the gasification
in K3, and hereafter the order of the operations is reversed and so forth.
When the gasification of a part of the contents of a chamber would be sufficient
for distilling the whole charge of the other chamber, an arrangement is made by
means of which every time before, during, and after the period of gasification the
surplus of the distilled material is taken off from each chamber. The chambers
may be grouped in this. case in series or circularly the one opposite to the other or
side by side. The furnaces used in the manufacture of bricks, are employed in a
precisely similar manner; they are provided with inlet-openings L (or D) for the
air (or steam) and with devices for letting escape the products of distillation and
of gasification (D P, V P, D V P) and also with openings for charging (F) and
discharging (E),
The figures 15 to 22 show some of these devices.
The working of these furnaces can first be a continuous one, each gasification of
a chamber (for instance K³) causing the distillation of the following chamber (for
instance K2) after the distillation of the latter, the gasification begins here, and
either the following chamber (for instance K³) is distilled, or in return the first
chamber K' which in the meanwhile is charged with fresh material. If it is
desired to obtain at the same time distilled products, a part of the contents of the
chamber which after the distillation will enter in the period of gasification, is
withdrawn (it is however requisite, that the remaining part will effect in the
chamber by its gasification the distillation of the neighbouring chamber ;) or
arrangements are made so that the products of gasification (for instance of the
chamber K) pass through several chambers (for example K³ K') in distilling the
same; but that the volatile bodies are absorbed in the chamber K³ only.
The totally or only partially distilled materials contained in the chambers (for
example K³ K) are either withdrawn or, after the introduction of fresh material,
the gasification is continued in K² and the products are withdrawn in the
chamber K³, or the contents of K³ only are taken off and gasified in K* and the

page_text: products after having passed through the chambers K5 K are let escape or in
the inverse direction K K³ K² are charged with fresh material and their contents
gasified in K³ the products flowing through K K³ K2 are introduced from the
latter chamber into the waste pipe. After the gasification or discharging, the
chambers are recharged with fresh material. The operations of gasification and
distillation may thus be effected in a forward or backward direction or also in a
circular sense.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
A method for obtaining the products of abstraction of gas (distillation) of
gasification (heating gas) or for obtaining distilled products, according to which
method alternatively, in one chamber of each pair of the chambers, the gasification
takes place (production of heating gases or complete combustion) and in the other
chamber, the abstraction of gas (distillation) in such a manner that the last
operation is always effected by the first operation, substantially as above described
and shewn in the drawings.
WM P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and
323, High Holborn, London,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.