Producer gas
The term producer gas has different meanings in the USA and UK.
USA
Producer Gas is a generic term referring to:- Wood gas: produced in a gasifier to power cars with ordinary internal combustion engines.
- Town gas: manufactured gas, originally produced from coal, for sale to consumers and municipalities.
- Syngas: used as a fuel source or as an intermediate for the production of other chemicals.
UK
In the UK, producer gas, also called suction gas, specifically means a fuel gas made from coke, anthracite or other carbonaceous material. Air is passed over the red-hot carbonaceous fuel and carbon monoxide is produced. The reaction is exothermic and proceeds as follows: 2C + O2 → 2CO The nitrogen in the air remains unchanged and dilutes the gas, giving it a very low calorific value. After "scrubbing", to remove tar, the gas may be used to power gas turbines (which are well-suited to fuels of low calorific value), spark ignited engines (where 100% petrol fuel replacement is possible) or diesel internal combustion engines (where 40% - 15% of the original diesel fuel is still used to ignite the gas http://www.claverton-energy.com/download/135/). During World War II in Britain plants were built in the form of trailers for towing behind commercial vehicles, especially buses, to supply gas as a replacement for petrol (gasoline) fuel. A range of about 80 miles for every charge of anthracite was achieved.See also
References
- Mellor, J.W., Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry, Longmans, Green and Co., 1941, page 211
- Adlam, G.H.J. and Price, L.S., A Higher School Certificate Inorganic Chemistry, John Murray, 1944, page 309