ZEPPELIN FUEL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 112, 16 November 1928, Page 9

ZEPPELIN FUEL

I PREPARATION OF CAS i ___ ! HISTORY OF RESEARCH i The reports of the trans-Atlantic voyage of the airship Count Zeppelin, with Captain Eckener at the helm, have stated that the fuel she will carry on the trip to New York is a mysterious "blue" gas (states the "Now York Times"). Experts say that, the gas is neither mysterious 2ior blue. This same gas in a form less pure has been used to light railroad cars in this and other countries for at least a decade, ami when used for that purpose has always been reforred to as Pintsch ! gas. It has also been used by farmers in Europe and America, as a fuel j for cooking and lighting. Herman Blau of Augsburg, Germany, considered one of the most competent gas engineers of his day, was associated with Julius Pintseh for some time. Pintseh succeeded in manufacturing a hydro-carbon gas which was so compressible that seventeen volumes of it could be squeezed into one. Pintseh, proud of this achievement, though not as ambitious as Blau, named it for himself. Railroads immediately saw the value of the gas as a fuel for lighting coach interiors, since it could be carried in a relatively small I container and was as good, if not better, for lighting purposes, than any gas disco%rered up to that time. Manufacturers of harbour buoys also were quick to seize upon the possibilities and the gas was used extensively in lighting them. Blau tried in vain to porsuude his friend Pintseh to pursue his. research, but Pintsch either thought he had reached ultimate success with hydrocarbon gas or was totally indifferent. Blau then made a hydro-carbon gas that, under about 1800 pounds pressure, with a temperature of minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, would, liquefy, and ho gave the product his name. He thought that a much greater quantity could be squeezed into a container than had been posisblo with the process used' by Pintsch. Ho therefore set out to make some of the lighter hydrocarbons ab-' sorb some of the heavier hydrocarbons. He succeeded and produced a gas containing about 1800 British Thermal Units per cubic foot. Hydrocarbon is the technical name for the by-products of petroleum such as kerosene and gasoline. After the petroleum .is cut for the fourth time, a gas oil is obtained. This Blau used as a base. He used retorts similar in most respects to- those employed in the ordinary plant which converts coa] into gas; except that they contained iron pipes called vapourisers to keep the oil from coming into contact with the clay retort during the "cracking" process. Much less heat is used under the retorts when hydro-carbons are. the baso than when coal is. Blau used less in his process than Piiitsch did in his— employing oil as a base—because Blau wanted to make a gas that could bo liquefied under pressure in a proper temperature. He passed the gas from the retorts through suitable tar extractors, scrubbers, coolers, and purifier boxes, and after these processes had a fine quality of oil gas which Inpassed through a compressor and a cooling device, where it was reduced to a liquid state and put into heavy steel cylinders. Blau gas contains a good many hydrocarbons uiisaturntcd, and because oi this fact is v superior fuel for internal combustion engines. It has a speeilii'. gravity of 1.04 to I.OS and that is one of the main reasons why'it appealed to the. German Zeppelin Corporation. One of the main difficulties in carrying liquid fuel iv a dirigible is that us the tanks are emptied one after the other during the voyage weight must constantly be shifted. Blau has recently made claims that he has got his product down to the specific gravity of 1, and if this is true the Count Zeppelin should have no difficulty in maintaining her trim and keeping an even keel. The first plant for the manufacture of Wnu gas was erected in IUOB in Blau's native city uf Augsburg, and others were later built in various European cities. Bights co operate under Blau's patents were obtained by a group of men in this country. Recently a. factory lias been set up in I'Viedrichshui'en, where the Count Zeppelin was tested.