Hydrogen 46.0
Light carbureted hydrogen (marsh gas) 39.5
Condensible hydrocarbon 3.8
Carbonic oxide 7.5
" acid 0.6
Aqueous vapor 2.0
Oxygen 0.1
Nitrogen 0.5
-----
100.0
Natural gas is now conveyed to Pittsburg through four lines of 5-5/8
inch pipe and one line of eight inch pipe. A line of ten inch pipe is
also being laid. The pressure of the gas at the wells is from 150 to 230
pounds to the square inch. As the wells are on one side eighteen and on
the other about twenty-five miles distant, and as the consumption is
variable, the pressure at the city cannot be given. Greater pressure
might be obtained at the wells, but this would increase the liability
to leakage and bursting of pipes. For the prevention of such casualties
safety valves are provided at the wells, permitting the escape of all
superfluous gas. The enormous force of this gas may be appreciated from
a comparison of, say, 200 pounds pressure at the wells with a two ounce
pressure of common gas for ordinary lighting. The amount of natural gas
now furnished for use in Pittsburg is supposed to be something like
25,000,000 cubic feet per day; the ten inch pipe now laying is estimated
to increase the supply to 40,000,000 feet. The amount of manufactured
gas used for lighting the same city probably falls below 3,000,000 feet.
About fifty mills and factories of various kinds in Pittsburg now use
natural gas. It is used for domestic purposes in two hundred houses.
Its superiority over coal in the manufacture of window glass is
unquestioned. That it is not used in all the glass houses of Pittsburg
is due to the fact that its advantages were not fully known when the
furnaces were fired last summer, and it costs a large sum to permit the
furnaces to cool off after being heated for melting. When the fires cool
down, and before they are started up again, the furnaces now using
coal will doubtless all be changed so as to admit natural gas. The
superiority of French over American glass is said to be due to the fact
that the French use wood and the Americans coal in their furnaces, wood
being free from sulphur, phosphorus, etc. The substitution of gas for
coal, while not increasing the cost, improves the quality of American
glass, making it as nearly perfect as possible.
While the gas is not used as yet in any smelting furnace nor in the
Bessemer converters, it is preferred in open hearth and crucible steel
furnaces, and is said to be vastly superior to coal for puddling. The
charge of a puddling furnace, consisting of 500 pounds of pig-metal and
eighty pounds of "fix," produces with coal fuel 490 to 500 pounds of
iron. With gas for fuel, it is claimed that the same charge will yield
520 to 530 pounds of iron. In an iron mill of thirty furnaces, running
eight heats each for twenty-four hours, this would make a difference in
favor of the gas of, say, 8 x 30 x 25 = 6,000 pounds of iron per day.
This is an important item of itself, leaving out the cost of firing with
coal and hauling ashes.
For generating steam in large establishments, one man will attend
a battery of twelve or twenty boilers, using gas as fuel, keep the
pressure uniform, and have the fire room clean as a parlor. For burning
brick and earthenware, gas offers the double advantage of freedom from
smoke and a uniform heat. The use of gas in public bakeries promises the
abolition of the ash-box and its accumulation of miscellaneous filth,
which is said to often impregnate the "sponge" with impurities.
In short, the advantages of natural gas as a fuel are so obvious to
those who have given it a trial, that the prediction is made that,
should the supply fail, many who are now using it will never return to
the consumption of crude coal in factories, but, if necessary, convert
it or petroleum into gas at their own works.
It seems, indeed, that until we shall have acquired the wisdom enabling
us to conserve and concentrate the heat of the sun, gas must be the fuel
of the future.--_Popular Science Monthly_.
TABLE OF ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GAS--FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
_____________________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | |
| CONSTITUENTS | [2.] | [3.] | [6.] | [7.] | [8.] | [9.] |
|_______________|________|________|________|________|________|_________
| | | | | | | |
| Hydrogen | .... | .... | 6.10 | 13.50 | 22.50 | 4.79 |
| | | | | | | |
| Marsh Gas | 82.41 | 96.50 | 75.44 | 80.11 | 60.27 | 89.65 |
| | | | | | | |
| Ethane | .... | .... | 18.12 | 5.72 | 6.80 | 4.39 |
| | | | | | | |
| Propane | .... | .... | trace. | .... | .... | trace. |
| | | | | | | |
| Carbonic acid | 10.11 | .... | 0.34 | 0.66 | 2.28 | 0.35 |
| | | | | | | |
| Carbonic oxide| .... | 0.50 | trace. | trace. | trace. | 0.26 |
| | | | | | | |
| Nitrogen | 4.31 | .... | .... | .... | 7.32 | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| Oxygen | 0.23 | 2.00 | .... | .... | 0.83 | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| "Illuminating | 2.94 | 1.00 | .... | .... | .... | 0.56 |
| hydrocarbons."|________|________|________|________|________|________|
| | | | | | | |
| | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 99.99 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
|_______________|________|________|________|________|________|________|
| |
| Specific gravity 0.693 0.692 0.6148 0.5119 0.5580 |
|_____________________________________________________________________|
______________________________________________________________________
| | | | | | | |
| CONSTITUENTS | [10.] | [12.] | [14.] | [15.] | [16.] | [17.] |
|_______________|________|________|________|________|________|_________
| | | | | | | |
| Hydrogen | .... | 19.56 | .... | 0.98 | .... | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| Marsh Gas | 96.34 | 78.24 | 47.37 | 93.09 | 80.69 | 95.42 |
| | | | | | | |
| Ethane | .... | .... | .... | .... | 4.75 | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| Propane | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| Carbonic acid | 3.64 | .... | 3.10 | 2.18 | 6.44 | 0.60 |
| | | | | | | |
| Carbonic oxide| | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| Nitrogen | | .... | 49.39 | 0.49 | 8.12 | 3.98 |
| | | | | | | |
| Oxygen | | 2.20 | 0.17 | .... | .... | .... |
| | | | | | | |
| "Illuminating | [10.] | .... | .... | 3.26 | .... | .... |
| hydrocarbons."|________|________|________|________|________|________|
| | | | | | | |
| | | 100.00 | 100.03 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
|_______________|________|________|________|________|________|________|
| |
|Specific gravity 0.5923 0.56 |
|_____________________________________________________________________|
Petroleum is composed of about 85 per cent of carbon and 15 per cent of
nitrogen.
Locations:
1. Petrolia, Canada.
2. West Bloomfield, N.Y.
3. Olean, N.Y.
4. Fredonis, N.Y.
5. Pioneer Run, Venango Co., Pa.
6. Burn's Well, near St. Joe., Butler Co., Pa.
7. Harvey Well, Butler Co., Pa.
8. Cherry Tree, Indiana Co., Pa.
9. Leechburg, Pa.
10. Creighton, Pa.
11. Penn Fuel Co.'s Well, Murraysville, Pa.
12. Fuel Gas Co.'s Well, Murraysville.
13. Roger's Gulch, Wirt Co., W. Va.
14. Gas from Marsh Ground
15. Baku, on the Caspian Sea.
16. Gas occluded in Wigan cannel-coal.
17. Blower in coal-mine. South Wales.
Notes:
1. Chiefly marsh-gas with ethane and some carbonic acid.
4. A mixture of marsh-gas, ethane and butane.
5. Chiefly propane, with small quantities of carbonic acid and
nitrogen.
10. Trace of heavy hydrocarbons.
11. Marsh-gas, with a little carbonic acid.
13. Chiefly marsh-gas, with small quantities of nitrogen and
15.86 per cent
carbonic acid.
References:
1. Fouqué, "Comptes Rendus," lxvii, p. 1045.
2. H. Wurtz, "Am. Jour. Arts and Sci." (2), xlix, p. 336.
3. Robert Young.
4. Fouqué, "Comptes Rendus," lxvii. p. 1045.
5. Fouqué, "Comptes Rendus," lxvii. p. 1045.
6. S.P. Sadler, "Report L, 2d Geol. Sur. Pa.," p. 153.
7. S.P. Sadler, "Report L, 3d Geol. Sur. Pa.," p. 152.
8. S.P. Sadler, "Report L, 3d Geol. Sur. Pa.," p. 153.
9. S.P. Sadler, "Report L, 3d Geol. Sur. Pa.," p. 153.
10. F.C. Phillips.
11. Robert Young.
12. Rogers.
13. Fouqué, "Comptes Rendus," lxvii, p. 1045.
14. Bischof's Chemical Geology," I, p. 730.
15. Bischof's Chemical Geology," I, p. 730.
16. J.W. Thomas, London, "Chemical Society's Journal," 1876, p. 793.
17. Same, 1875, p. 793.
* * * * *