Joseph Herbert on wed 1 sep 10
Lee wrote: "I am confused about how it changes the atmosphere at all and
what is actually going on when the water is introduced"
There is a series of reactions that were once among the more famous in the
world that have pretty much gone from fashion. Adding steam to a hot bed o=
f
coal (any organic fuel) at high temperature produced hydrogen and carbon
dioxide. In conjunction with incomplete combustion of the fuel, carbon
monoxide is formed. Once, alternating the blast of insufficient air with a
blast of steam produced town gas. Before electricity and natural gas were
widely distributed, coal was used to make this town gas, a combination of
hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. It was piped into homes for
lighting use. It has a Btu value of about 1/3 that of natural gas.
Putting water onto the hot coals of a wood kiln fire box produces part of
this reaction. Hydrogen in the kiln atmosphere would act as a reducing
agent. It would be better to use steam to do this, since the heat of the
coals is not used to evaporate the water. The steam still cools the coals
and the reaction itself absorbs heat. (the CO reaction is exothermic)
Alternating an air blast and a steam blast was apparently the most efficien=
t
way of making the gas.
In the case of town gas, it was collected, cooled, stored and sold to
people. Almost all towns of any size had a gas plant. Wiki shows the
Seattle gas plant, saying it could be the only one left. Strange to think
that people paid to have a constant supply of carbon monoxide piped into
their homes. The combination of electrical distribution for lighting and
natural gas distribution for heat killed the town gas industry in a very
short time.
In the case of the kiln, the gas is produced and goes right to the use site=
.
No collecting, no waiting. Perhaps in the future, some wood kilns will hav=
e
steam boilers. Think about the permits for that.
Joe
Joseph Herbert
Training Developer
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