IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OILS AND TARS OBTAINED FROM BLAST FURNACES AND GAS PRODUCERS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VALUABLE HYDROCARBONS THEREFROM
Year: 1884

page_text: I CHARLES ERNEST BELL of Park House Durham Mining Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
OILS AND TARS OBTAINED FROM BLAST FURNACES AND GAS PRODUCERS FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF VALUABLE HYDROCARBONS THEREFROM" to be as follows:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the treatment of oils and tars
obtained from blast furnaces and gas producers for the production of valuable
hydrocarbons therefrom.
In a former Provisional Specification No 9510 in the present year I have
described the treatment of oils and tars obtained from coke ovens with a view to
the production of hydrocarbons of the series to which benzol naphthaline and
anthracine belong.
Now I have since discovered that a like treatment is applicable to oils and tars
obtained from blast furnaces and gas producers.
I pass such oils and tars into a retort or chamber heated to or beyond a full red
heat and by preference charged with coke.
The vapour from this retort or chamber I pass to a condenser and in this
condenser an oil or tar is deposited which is much richer in these more valuable
hydrocarbons than was the raw tar on entering the retort or chamber, indeed blast
furnace and gas producer oils or tars in their crude state for the most part contain
scarcely any of the valuable hydrocarbons.

page_text: Improvements in the Treatment of Oils and Tars Obtained from
Blast Furnaces and Gas Producers for the Production of
CUMPLEIE
DIECIFICATION.
I CHARLES ERNEST BELL of Park House, Durham, Mining Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
OILS AND TARS OBTAINED FROM BLAST FURNACES AND GAS PRODUCERS FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF VALUABLE HYDROCARBONS THEREFROM 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 for its object improvements in the treatment of oils and tars
obtained from blast furnaces and gas producers for the production of valuable
hydrocarbons therefrom.
In a former Specification N° 9510 in the present year I have described the
treatment of oils and tars obtained from coke ovens with a view to the production
of hydrocarbons of the series to which benzol naphthaline and anthracine belong.
Now I have since discovered that a like treatment is applicable to oils and tars
obtained from blast furnaces and gas producers.
Oils and tars are obtained from these sources by condensing, by various processes,
the vapours and gases from the blast furnaces and gas producers and one of such
processes applying to blast furnaces is described in the Specifications of Patents
granted to Alexander and McCosh No 4117 in the year 1879 N° 1433 in the year
1880 and N° 3785 in the year 1881. Oils and tars obtained by condensing the
gases and vapours from blast furnaces and gas producers by this or other process
are suitable for my treatment and are included in my patent.
I pass such oils and tars into a retort or chamber heated to or beyond a full red
heat and by preference charged with coke.
The vapour from this retort or chamber I pass to a condenser and in this
condenser an oil or tar is deposited which is much richer in these more valuable
hydrocarbons than was the raw tar on entering the retort or chamber: indeed blast
furnace and gas producer oils or tars in their crude state for the most part
contain scarcely any of the valuable hydrocarbons.
The way in which I prefer to operate is as follows.
I take the oils and tars as they are obtained from the blast furnaces and gas
producers and I submit them to a process of distillation by which I separate from
them the water and pitch which they contain. The volatile portions may be
condensed and then afterwards treated but I prefer to avoid this intermediate
process and to pass the vapours from the still direct into a highly heated retort or
chamber by which treatment the more valuable hydrocarbons are developed.
I employ preferably cast iron retorts say about 9 feet long and 8 inches in
internal diameter. The retorts are set in a furnace at a slight inclination, sufficient
to drain towards the delivery end or other convenient position. The retorts should
be maintained at a full or even a bright red heat, they may be filled with coke but
my experiments show me that this is by no means essential for I have obtained
good results when the retorts have been left empty. The vapours from the still are
passed into the retorts near one end and they issue from the retorts at the other
end into neck pieces forming prolongations of the retorts and extending some three

page_text: or four feet out from the back of the furnace. From these necks vertical pipes rise,
and these are surrounded with water entering at the lower part of a jacket and
passing off at the top. In the horizontal necks of the retort and also in these
rising pipes a partial condensation takes place and by a siphon like outlet pipe
connected with the neck of the retort, a tarry product is drawn off.
A further and more complete condensation is effected in a condenser with an oil
scrubber attached consisting of a range of vertical pipes exposed to the air and in
which the vapours are caused to ascend and descend alternately from end to end of
the series. There may be in the condenser say two dozen pipes arranged in two
parallel rows and each pipe four inches in diameter and 8 feet long. A gas remains
after this condensation. This gas I utilise by passing it back to the furnace in
which the retorts are contained and there burning it for the purpose of heating the
retorts.
"
When the vapours from the still are condensed previous to treatment in the
heated retorts or chambers I run the distilled oil into the retort at its upper end at
the rate of about a gallon in an hour. The same is a suitable quantity to be
allowed to pass into each retort when admitted in a state of vapour.
When the retorts are working properly but a very small deposition of carbon
takes place within them, and this should be removed about once in 24 hours. If
too high a temperature be employed the deposition of carbon will be much larger
and it will be necessary to clear the retorts every few hours, great loss of product
then results.
I find that the tarry product obtained should be about 45 per cent of the amount
of material treated, the remainder passes off as gas and produces the small
amount of carbonaceous deposit within the retorts or chambers which so far I have
not been able to avoid.
By treatment in this manner of a material which, when admitted to the retort
has in a liquid form a specific gravity of 8 I obtain in the proportion stated a tarry
product having the specific gravity of 109: or again with a material entering the
retort at a specific gravity of about 95 I obtain a product having a specific
gravity of 1·13 or thereabout.
These two examples represent approximately the working at the commencement
and the end of the operation. At the commencement of the distillation vapours of
oil having comparatively low specific gravity enter the retort from the still but as
the distillation proceeds oils having a higher specific gravity are drawn over.
result of the process is to raise the specific gravity, that of the product being
considerably higher than that of the matter entering the retort.
The
At the same time the process alters the chemical composition of the bodies which
become relatively richer in carbon. The product contains benzol, toluole, xyline,
naphthaline, anthracine, phenol, and their homologues besides isologous series. For
the separation of these the product is afterwards treated by fractional distillation
in the usual manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The treatment of oils and tars obtained from blast furnaces and gas producers
by submitting them to high temperature in retorts or chambers substantially as
herein described.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.