Gasworks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a historical article. For current information see Syngas.
A Gasworks is a factory for the manufacture of gas. Coal gas was introduced in the UK in the 1790s as an Illuminating gas by the Scottish inventor William Murdoch.
Early gasworks were usually located beside a river or canal so that coal could be brought in by barge. Transport was later shifted to railways and many gasworks had internal railway systems with their own locomotives.
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[edit] Equipment
A gasworks was divided into several sections for the production, purification and storage of gas.
[edit] Retort house
This contained the retorts in which coal was heated to generate the gas. The crude gas passed on to the condenser. The residue left in the retort was coke.
[edit] Condenser
This consisted of a bank of air-cooled pipes over a water-filled sump. Its purpose was to remove tar from the gas.
[edit] Scrubber
A tower, packed with coke, down which water was trickled. This removed ammonia and ammonium compounds.
[edit] Purifier
This removed hydrogen sulphide from the gas by passing it over trays containing moist ferric oxide. The gas then passed on to the gasholder.
[edit] Gasholder
The gasholder or gasometer was used for storage of the gas.
[edit] By-products
The by-products of gas-making, such as coke, coal tar, ammonia and sulphur had many uses. For details, see coal gas.
[edit] British gasworks today
Coal gas is no longer made in the UK but many gasworks sites are still used for storage and metering of natural gas and some of the old gasometers are still in use. Fakenham gasworks dating from 1846 is the only complete, non-operational gasworks remaining in England. Other examples exist at Biggar in Scotland and Carrickfergus in Ireland.
[edit] See also
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