The Return of Producer Gas
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is Imminent
Modern Plants Are Free From the Faults that Militated Against the Success of Their Predecessors and 10,000 of Them Would Release Annually 250,000 Tons of Fuel for the R.A.F., says A. C. Morrison.
AT the present moment the position of the producer-gas plant, as applied to motor vehicles, is obscure. Why should this be when so many thousands of plants are running satisfactorily on the Continent?
There are three reasons:—The difference between this country and abroad in respect of available fuel supplies; the patchy experiences of users who operated early producer plants; lack of Government enthusiasm.
Considering these individually, we find that on the Continent the fuel employed is almost exclusively charcoal. This substance is easy to use. It is highly reactive, meaning that lighting up is easy, and that producer, tuyere and grate sizes are not critical; it forms a relatively small amount of clinker, and it has little silica, thereby reducing the cleaning complications.
At home, the problem is that little charcoal is 'available so we must use -coat which term includes anthracites, hard steam coals and coal deriVatives.
The mobile gas producer was prim , ari5r a Continental development and our second reason for the relative failure in this country is tied up with_ _ the fuel difference, because in most instances we adapted the charcoal producer to use British fuels instead of designing a suitable apparatus from first principles.
No Repetition of Early Troubles Many able minds have attacked this problem and considerable sums of money have now been spent over a long period on the development of a mobile gas producer to use coals and cokes. 'No operator. need fear a repetition of the early troubles. Modern British plants are really first-class engineering jobs, desigried on scientific principles.
The third problem is quite understandable. When the Government was faced with the results of early producers, what did it find?
That vehicles with a normal daily running schedule of 250 miles were limited to 150 miles or less because of lack of power, and the large amount of daily 'attention required.
That engine wear was out of all proportion to that of normal petrol units, That highly skilled labour (particularly welders) was using valuable steel building apparatus which did not enable the vehicle to do its full job.
That operators were re-converting to petrol.
That close fuel specifications were required, that, in certain cases, only 50 per cent, of •the processed fuel was usable in producers, and that, besides this waitage of National resources, the fuel .cost was disproportionately high.
Now the gas-producer industry is at the cross-roads. It has a rather murky past, but, if we can put the past out of our minds, it has a useful future. because the " gpowing-pain " stage is over. The rennaissance of producer gas is at hand and to ensure success there must be new Governmental support which can be given without reservation.
Broadly, the present position is that, 'with reputable makes, instead of being tied tospecially dried 2-to-1 size-ratio fuel, i.e., fin. to 4-in. mesh, ,sizes of fin. to 1i7in, mesh are satisfactory, whilst there is no need specially to dry it. Moreover, 85 per cent. to 95 per cent.‘ of the raw processed material is suitable. This , will enable fuel suppliers materially to reduce their costs and to conserve national resources; even ordinary activated gasworks coke is suitable.
Service is now reduced to cleaning out the ash pan daily (a driver's job) and emptying the cleaners weekly. The latter is a normal garage-service operation, necessary at 1,000-1,500 mile intervals.
Wear is now comparable with that of petrol or oil engines. I have per sonally checked. cylinder wear, over many thousands of miles on similar vehicles, -using petrol and modern producer gas, and' have ascertained that the results are identical.
Power has been increased, although it is still less than oil, and. it maintained throughout the day, instead of seriously falling off as in the case of the old plants.
I am not one who has blamed the Government for its lack of enthusiasm in the past; it must look at any ' problem from the National standpoint.
Apart from steel supplies fuel supplies and fuel cost reduction, operators should know what is happening inside the " box of tricks " and should realize that the days of a couple of holes in an oil drum and a rudimentary cleaning system are gone. Few have .any idea of the complexity of the reactions occurring; in fact, let it be whispered, some makers were not too sure how, things happened in the early days. Knowledge is now available from every standpoint.
Building 10,000 producers now will consume 5,000 tons or one shipload of steel, common mild steel, not alloy steel. This number of produders will save 5,000 tons of oil fuel per week. The figures are striking.
One Boat Load of Producer Steel
Assume that a tanker (a specialized boat)can make 10 yoyages a year, and again assume thaf it is a fair-sized tanker and capable of carrying 5,000 tons. Both figures are optimistic. These 10,000 proddcers, requiring one boatload of cheap steel, using a tramp cargo boat, will release five highly specialized ships to carry high-octane fuel for the R.A.F. continuously
We are scraping evety nook and cranny in the world for tankers. Here is a chance to release our own. But the producer or producers built must be of the most advanced proved design. and where any proprietary make has advantages these advantages must be used.
Can some means, by which a Royalty is paid to manufacturers who have spent large sums of money on develop
ment be evolved? This is not war profiteering, it is repayment of monies expended in the National interest. There is no doubt that some machines are very good whilst others include good single features. We are all in this total. war together. Let us manufacture the best producer by tile best methods, in 6od quantities, quickly, and let us use the best concerns to do it Whilst these producers are being built, let us educate the operator—this term to include the man at the wheel— as to what really happens in the apparatus. There is now no mystery regarding the working of a producer, but unless the man in charge of it is au fait with the " innards," little mole hills can easily become mountains.