More Car Charging Juice Needed Humphrey? Yes Minister.

Indeed - heating the coal up with not enough air to fully burn, and adding water vapour as described above by DZ, is a key part of the old gasworks process - giving you two flammable by products, the solid but porous coke, and the gas, as well as reasonable quantities of a heavy coal tar and creosote, good  for water proofing sleepers and wood preservation. (spills of these latter, or indeed just dumping of it into pits make reclaiming old gasworks for development into a bit of an environmental nightmare. )

youtube video of a manual gas works - larger ones were more mechanised.


Once in fresh air the carbon monoxide can be persuaded to pick up another oxygen and burn but it is the hydrogen from the cracking of the water that makes town gas interesting for the current discussion, because it is often described as hard to contain, with leaks spontaneously lighting and exploding at the drop of the hat.  This has been seen in industrial settings with H2 at high pressure (hundreds of atmospheres, where about the only thing that reliably keeps it in it seems is fully welded stainless steel pipework).

But hydrogen leaks were not a serious problem in the old coal gas era with distribution pressure of a few inches of water gauge. As adding hydrogen to the current natural gas network is another thing that may soon be required, it seems  sensible to debunk some of the worst fears.

As an aside the 'Agatha Christie style ' murder of the head in the oven and not lighting the gas works with town gas, because of the unburnt CO.

With north sea gas breathing in a few lungfulls will give you a headache and a fit of coughing is more likely - with CO that is fatal.

Indeed - heating the coal up with not enough air to fully burn, and adding water vapour as described above by DZ, is a key part of the old gasworks process - giving you two flammable by products, the solid but porous coke, and the gas, as well as reasonable quantities of a heavy coal tar and creosote, good  for water proofing sleepers and wood preservation. (spills of these latter, or indeed just dumping of it into pits make reclaiming old gasworks for development into a bit of an environmental nightmare. )

youtube video of a manual gas works - larger ones were more mechanised.


Once in fresh air the carbon monoxide can be persuaded to pick up another oxygen and burn but it is the hydrogen from the cracking of the water that makes town gas interesting for the current discussion, because it is often described as hard to contain, with leaks spontaneously lighting and exploding at the drop of the hat.  This has been seen in industrial settings with H2 at high pressure (hundreds of atmospheres, where about the only thing that reliably keeps it in it seems is fully welded stainless steel pipework).

But hydrogen leaks were not a serious problem in the old coal gas era with distribution pressure of a few inches of water gauge. As adding hydrogen to the current natural gas network is another thing that may soon be required, it seems  sensible to debunk some of the worst fears.

As an aside the 'Agatha Christie style ' murder of the head in the oven and not lighting the gas works with town gas, because of the unburnt CO.

With north sea gas breathing in a few lungfulls will give you a headache and a fit of coughing is more likely - with CO that is fatal.