Abstract
DR. E. F. ARMSTRONG recently delivered a lecture on hydrogen and its uses before the Royal Society of Arts (J. Roy. Soc. Arts, May 6). Two important methods of preparation of hydrogen are from water gas and coke oven gas. The carbon monoxide in water gas is oxidised to carbon dioxide by passing a mixture of the gas and steam over a catalyst containing iron oxide, the hydrogen of the reacting steam being set free. The small residue of carbon monoxide is removed by absorption under 200 atm. pressure. The preparation from coke oven gas depends on purification by washing and fractional cooling, whereby first the methane and then the carbon monoxide is removed. The cost of production by either method under the most favourable conditions is about Is. per thousand cubic feet of hydrogen. The principal uses of hydrogen are for the hydrogenation of fats, in which liquid oils are converted into solid fats by taking up hydrogen in the presence of small quantities of nickel; the hydrogenation of other organic materials, including mineral oil, tar, and coal; and the production of synthetic ammonia. The conversion of coal into oil by treatment with hydrogen under pressure involves the use of an elaborate and costly plant; and so far as the production of petrol is concerned, the cost is put down at 7dā8d. per gallon, as compared with a price of less than 2d. per gallon at the oilfield. The prices may alter in future in favour of petrol from coal. If hydrogen is ever required in larger quantities by the oil industry, it could be obtained from the methane of natural gas or refinery waste gas, which readily reacts with steam to form hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
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Hydrogen and its Uses. Nature 129, 825 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129825b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129825b0