Part 39

This was the first of the great triumphs of chemistry in the industrial 346 field. The significant point in this story of soda, is that those industries which were using the alkalies had reached the limit of their development, because the supply of the alkalies was so limited. Remember, also, that those industries were fundamental ones. Some historian has said that you can measure the civilization of a people by the amount of soap it uses. And here, we see the soap industry of Europe, the seat of our present civilization, crippled for want of an alkali. The position of the chemist, his responsibility to society, is the significant thing in the story. Here was a crisis in the development of civilization, as important to us as the crisis of the battle of Marathon. Because the problem was solved in the retort, instead of on the battle plain, because the battle was fought by the quiet hand of the chemist, instead of by the fighting men of Greece, we do not hear so much of it. But it was a triumph, and the credit belongs to the chemist. To us, as much depended upon the result of the battle of the molecules in the retort, as upon the defeat of the great Darius.

Nor was this battle in the retort a tame one. LeBlanc’s method is an extremely complicated one. To conduct the process at all requires chemical knowledge of the most varied kind. And to apply the improvements that have been worked out in the laboratory, and to carry into practice the many subsidiary manufactures that have sprung from this main industry, demands so much technical ability that it has been said that this manufacture is not merely the foundation of the immense chemical industries of today, but is also the guiding spirit in them.

LeBlanc, of course, could not foretell the enormous development his industry was to attain. Nor could he conceive of the ramifications running from it into countless other activities of our present civilization. The manufacture of sulphuric acid, one of the most important products of modern industry, is intimately bound up with that of soda. And, in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, nitric acid 347 is required, and must be made. Hydrochloric acid is a by-product of the soda process, and was for a long time permitted to go to waste. Now it is one of the most valuable products of the LeBlanc soda process. It is used to make bleaching powder, potassium chlorate, and otherwise in the industries. Also, the alkaline waste from the soda process is rich in sulphur. This sulphur is now recovered and put on the market as such, helping to meet the demand for sulphur that the Sicilian mines cannot supply.

All those varied industries that were either created or fostered by the soda industry have made possible the almost fabulously complicated processes that are now carried out in the manufacture of the aniline dyes, the artificial odors, like vanillin whose complexity can be gathered from its formula, C_{6}H_{3}OHOCH_{3}CHO, which tells many things to the chemist, but not much to the layman, and the artificial febrifuges like antipyrin, whose formula is C_{11}H_{12}N_{2}O. All these chemical industries that are the outgrowth of the soda industry, and that are so dove-tailed with our civilization, have been built up on the science of chemistry, and worked out by chemists. I have selected this story of soda to show the commanding position held by the science of chemistry in directing the course of civilization. It shows, too, how the entire structure of that civilization is built around the contributions of the chemist.

As has been already said, it is impossible to separate chemistry from industry. The farther we go and the more we develop and the more complex our civilization becomes, the closer become the ties uniting science and industry. And as everything that deals with the change in composition of matter is chemistry, it is evident that chemistry is omnipresent. In the light of what it has accomplished, who shall say that it is not omnipotent?

The story of soda is a beautiful example of how industry and the need of civilization can act as a beacon light for the science of 348 chemistry. This illustration will show how the pure science has created new industries and opened up new activities for civilization. In 1838 in England, there was born a boy who afterwards was to be known as Sir Wm. Perkin. He came of a very intelligent family. Besides, he was gifted with a natural aptitude for chemistry. More than that, he was put under the direction of Professor Hofmann, one of the most brilliant of chemists. Perkin would have been called by any one, an ideal bit of raw material. Hofmann, like many others of those German chemists, had a faculty of instilling that enthusiasm that is necessary in the performance of an epoch-making advancement. Perkin caught that enthusiasm. He rigged up a laboratory in his house and worked at night and in his vacations on those interesting problems that Hofmann discussed in his lectures. During one of these vacations, he was trying to build up, artificially, the substance called quinine, which was up to that time a purely natural product. His work took an unexpected turn. Instead of building up quinine, he built what chemists call now phenyl-sufranine, or mauvëine. This was a new substance with properties that rendered it an excellent dye. Perkin established a factory in which the new substance could be prepared on a large scale; and within a year of its discovery, he had it on the market. This discovery of Mauve, the first of the artificial dyes, gave a great impetus to the study of coal tar, from which it was made. Coal tar, up to that time, was a waste product, made in the process of heating coal for the manufacture of gas. This coal tar is the raw material which is used in that enormous chemical industry, the manufacture of the derivatives of tri-phenyl methane, the so-called aniline dyes. There is invested in this industry alone, $750,000,000; and the whole structure, complex as it is, is built on the foundation of a pure chemical research that was undertaken merely to gratify the investigative desires of a true scientist, with no thought of its 349 financial results. This achievement of Perkin stands out as one of the great discoveries of chemistry. And the story of Mauve shows how science has led the way for industry, just as the story of soda shows how industry has pointed out the way for science.

Many more stories of the victories of scientific industry could be told. Much has been done. But the chemist does not live in the glory of the past. He lives in the possibilities of the future. Every advancement of the past has opened up many fields of possibilities. If much has been done, much more remains to be done. And the work of the future will require the services of the scientist more than did the work of the past. Those problems whose answers were obvious, have all been solved. The problems of today are deep ones; they require all the ingenuity, all the ability that the trained chemist can bring to bear upon the problems. And they will all tend to increased efficiency.

While chemistry is a fundamental science, while it covers such a variety of subjects, while the total amount of its established facts is indeed enormous, nevertheless, it must be said with frankness that this vastness is made up for the most part by details and more or less isolated facts and ideas. Chemistry can boast of remarkable achievements. But the greatest achievements are yet before it. And the reason is this: Chemistry is not yet a really unified science. The real fundamentals which will string together all of the isolated facts and ideas, material of which the chemist has, indeed, reason to feel proud, are for the most part lacking. That is why the future is so much larger than the past. And that is why the world can expect from the chemists much greater achievements in the future than it has seen accomplished in the past, great as they have been.

In the most fundamental terms, chemistry concerns itself with the changes which the different kinds of energy produce upon matter. 350 Chemistry concerns itself with two things, energy and matter. And yet chemistry must admit that it does not know the nature of matter or the nature of energy. And not knowing, it cannot appreciate.

In this direction lie the achievements of the chemistry of the future. As the nature of matter and the nature of energy gradually unfold themselves to the advances of chemical investigation, remarkable possibilities for future development are disclosed. We are beginning to see how really wasteful we have been. The frightful wastes which the movement toward the conservation of our natural resources has called to our attention, sink into utter insignificance when we consider what we have lost on account of our ignorance. We are just beginning to appreciate our wastefulness of chemical energy. A piece of coal, for example, has in it the possibility of doing ten times as much work as it is doing now. A piece of radium has stored in it an almost infinite amount of energy. How to change this internal or chemical energy into the other forms of energy with which we are familiar, into heat, or electricity, or ordinary mechanical energy, that is the problem of the future. The utilization of this vast amount of potential energy that is stored up in all forms of matter, the harnessing of it in the service of humanity, this is the problem which confronts the chemist. It goes down to the very fundamentals of his science.

But the start has been made. The point of the wedge has already found entrance. The discovery of radium, and the study of its decompositions, has opened wide our field of vision. The problem must yield, as the blows of chemical investigation fall upon the wedge and drive it home.

Chemistry has always been a utilitarian science. Its results have always been at the service of humanity. And if we can judge the future by the past, even discounting for the enthusiasm of the chemist, we can forsee improved processes which will reduce our present wasteful 351 methods; we can see new processes making for us such things as india rubber from starch, for which we must now depend upon the bounty of nature; and we can dimly see the time when we shall be able to utilize some of that energy which is hidden away in the recesses of matter, and whose vastness we have just begun to appreciate.

THE CLOSE RELATION OF THE PRODUCER-GAS POWER PLANT TO THE CONSERVATION 352 OF OUR FUEL RESOURCES.

BY ROBERT HEYWOOD FERNALD.

[Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Case School of Applied Science.]

Official reports show that the coal placed on the market amounts annually to between 450,000,000 and 500,000,000 short tons in the United States alone. These figures, however, are somewhat misleading as they do not in any way show the tremendous wastes that are going on due to our present methods of mining and restrictions in qualities of coal that can be transported and placed on the market at a reasonable profit. Careful investigation has shown that the coal wasted or left in the mines in such form as to be inaccessible to future generations amounts each year to practically 100 per cent of that placed on the market, or in other words, at the present time some 450,000,000 tons are annually lost as far as commercial value is concerned.

If this condition is allowed to continue it is estimated by the United States Geological Survey that our available supply of bituminous coal will be exhausted within the next two hundred years.

A realization of the seriousness of this situation has led to a careful and systematic study of the present lack of efficiency in the utilization of fuels for both power and metallurgical purposes, to investigations into more efficient use of the present marketable grades of fuel, and to a consideration of methods of using the so-called low-grade fuels, lignites and peats.

The United States Geological Survey has for several years been investigating the economic value of coals and lignites as gas-producer fuel. This work, begun with tests of coal and lignite at the 353 coal-testing plant erected at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, was continued at St. Louis and at Norfolk, Va., and is now being carried on by the Survey at the fuel-testing plant in Pittsburg, Pa. The tests were undertaken because it was evidently desirable to determine the value of the gas producer as a means of increasing efficiency in the use of the coal supplies of the United States. The early tests proved decidedly encouraging, demonstrating that many coals now wasted or not mined because they are not satisfactory fuel for steam-power plants can, by conversion into producer-gas, be made to do from two to three times as much work as can be done by the best grades of steam coal burned in a boiler plant. In consequence, the making of producer-gas tests and the study of the processes that take place within the gas producer now form an essential part of the fuel investigations conducted at the Pittsburg plant under the provisions made by Congress for the analyzing and testing of mineral fuels.

Rapid Development of the Gas Engine.

It was not until late in the nineteenth century that the gas engine came into common use, and although many types have been devised within the last twenty or thirty years it is only within eight or nine years that large gas engines have been constructed. This development started eleven or twelve years ago in Germany, Belgium, and England, but marked progress has been limited to the last eight years.

For a long time the natural fuel of these internal-combustion engines was city gas, but this was too expensive except for engines of small capacity. It was seldom found economical to operate units of more than 75 horsepower with this fuel. Cheap gas was essential for the development of the gas engine, but the early attempts to produce cheap gas were somewhat discouraging, and for a time it seemed very 354 unlikely that the gas engine would encroach to any extent on the field occupied by the steam engine. The theoretical possibilities of the internal-combustion engine operating with cheap fuel promised so much, however, that the practical difficulties were rapidly overcome, with the result that the internal-combustion engine has become a serious rival of the steam engine in many of its applications.

The development of the large gas engine within the last few years has been exceedingly rapid. It was only ten years ago that a 600-horsepower engine exhibited at the Paris Exposition was regarded as a wonder, but today four-cycle, twin-tandem, double-acting engines of 2,000 to 3,500 horsepower can be found in nearly all up-to-date steel plants, and there are installations in this country containing several units rated at 5,400 horsepower each.

Development of the Gas Producer for Power Purposes.

The rapid advance of the large gas engine was made possible by improvements in the production of cheap gas directly from fuel by means of the gas producer. An early form of producer introduced in Europe, and now in general use both abroad and in the United States, is known as the suction producer, a name suggested by the fact that the engine develops its charge of gas in the producer by means of its own suction stroke. Although many producers of this type are now used, most of them are small, seldom exceeding 200 horsepower. A serious limitation to the utility of the suction producer has been the fact that, owing to the manner of generating the gas, no tarry fuels could be used, a restriction that prevented the use of bituminous coals, lignites, peats, and other like fuels. The fuels in most common use for producers of this type are charcoal, coke, and anthracite coal, although attempts are being made so to construct plants that they can be operated with bituminous or tarry coals.

To meet the demand for the concentration of power in large units, 355 instead of operating a large number of separate installations of small power capacity, the pressure producer was devised. This producer develops its gas under a slight pressure due to the introduction of an air and steam blast, and the gas is stored in a holder until it is required by the engine. As the gas may thus be stored before passing to the engine, and as its generation does not depend on the suction stroke of the engine, tar and other impurities may be removed from it by suitable devices, and the use of bituminous coal, lignite, and peat thus permitted.

The pressure producer was closely followed in the course of development by the down-draft producer, which fixes the tar as a permanent gas and therefore completely uses the volatile hydrocarbons in bituminous coal, lignite, and peat.

A few scattered producer-gas plants were installed for power purposes in the United States before 1900, but the application of this type of power in any general sense has been developed since that date. During the first few years of this period of development anthracite coal, coke, and charcoal were used almost exclusively, although occasionally pressure and down-draft plants ventured to use a well-tried bituminous coal known to be especially free from sulphur and caking difficulties and low in both ash and tar making compounds. The rapid development of the anthracite plant was to be expected, but it remained for the United States Geological Survey in its testing plants at St. Louis and Norfolk to demonstrate the possibility of using in such plants practically all grades of fuel of any commercial value, without reference to the amount of sulphur or tarry matter which they contain. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the very rapid increase in the number of installations and in the total horsepower of the plants operating with bituminous coal and lignite since the beginning of these 356 investigations by the Geological Survey in 1904.

Owing to the fact that the dates of installation of many plants are not ascertainable, it is impossible to present the exact growth either in number of installations or in horsepower. The relative rate is, however, approximately shown by Figures 1 and 2, the data for which were secured from 375 installations. The points for the year 1909 are estimated from the returns for the first five months. These points have been checked by two or three methods and indicate only the normal increase established by the rate of development before the business depression of 1908. It is probable that the actual figures for the entire year may exceed those indicated.

Relative Results of Steam and Producer-Gas Tests.

In considering the relation between the economic results of plants of the two types under discussion, namely steam and producer-gas, the fact should be remembered that today, in the ordinary manufacturing plant operated by steam power, less than 5 per cent of the total energy in the fuel consumed is available for useful work at the machine.

In this connection it is of interest and value to glance at the possibilities of the best-designed and most skilfully operated commercial plant now in use. The data concerning the steam plant selected for this determination are derived from a table prepared by Mr. Stott, superintendent of motive power, Interborough Rapid Transit Company, New York City, which, as Mr. Stott says, shows “the losses found in a year’s operation of what is probably one of the most efficient plants in existence today, and, therefore, typical of the present state of the art.”

Average losses in steam plant of the Interborough Company in 359 converting 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.

======================================+==========+========== | British | | thermal | Per cent. | units. | --------------------------------------+----------+---------- Loss by friction | 138 | 1.1 Loss in exhaust | 7,513 | 60.1 Loss in pipes and auxiliaries | 275 | 2.2 Loss in boiler | 1,000 | 8.0 Loss in stack | 1,987 | 15.9 Loss in ashes | 300 | 2.4 +----------+---------- Total losses | 11,213 | 89.7 Energy utilized | 1,287 | 10.3 +----------+---------- | 12,500 | 100.0 --------------------------------------+----------+----------

Mr. Stott further presents a table showing the thermal efficiency of producer-gas plants, concerning which he says:

The following heat balance is believed to represent the best results obtained in Europe and the United States up to date in the formation and utilization of producer gas.

Average losses in a producer-gas plant in the conversion of 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.

======================================+==========+========== | British | | thermal | Per cent. | units. | --------------------------------------+----------+---------- Loss in gas producer and auxiliaries | 2,500 | 20.0 Loss in cooling water in jackets | 2,375 | 19.0 Loss in exhaust gases | 3,750 | 30.0 Loss in engine friction | 813 | 6.5 Loss in electric generator | 62 | .5 +----------+---------- Total losses | 9,500 | 76.0 Converted into electric energy | 3,000 | 24.0 +----------+---------- | 12,500 | 100.0 --------------------------------------+----------+----------

The thermal efficiency of such plants, as given by different writers, runs as high as 33, 36, and 38.5 per cent, and for some plants figures as extravagant as “above 40” are boldly published. Although the present aim has been to give the figures for a producer-gas plant that may compare favorably with those of the steam plant of the Interborough Company, an effort has been made to keep well within obtainable efficiencies. Attention is also directed to the fact that 360 the producer-gas plant considered should be large enough to compare favorably with the steam plant. This precludes comparisons with suction plants, which are relatively small but give higher proportional efficiencies than the larger pressure and down-draft plants, for these require more or less auxiliary apparatus.

Mr. Stott seems ready to accept a thermal efficiency of 24 per cent for the best producer-gas plants for comparison with 10.3 per cent efficiency for his steam plant, but a careful study of the problem has led to a more conservative estimate for the producer-gas plant, namely, 21.5 per cent.

The tables just given show the comparative efficiencies reached in plants of the best type, both steam and producer-gas, but these are seldom realized in common practice. The results obtained in the government plant at St. Louis are probably more nearly representative of the ordinary type of apparatus. These results are as follows: