On 12/28/2010 10:07 AM, Gerald Kutney wrote:
Who first used the term synthesis gas and/or syngas.
I first became aware of the term in the early 70's as something
produced by Union Carbide's PureOx process for gasifying municipal solid
waste. By using pure oxygen, they were able to run the process at a
temperature that was high enough to be able to melt glass and metallic
waste-stream components. Here's a short description of their process.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1976cfms.proc..447F
Back then, the only effective source for oxygen was cryogenic;
today, the ready availability of Pressure Swing Adsorption technology
greatly enlarges the potential for using this technology at the local
level.
An article published by the United Nations Environment Programme
(dated 2005) compares the Andco-Torrax, Monsanto Landgard and Union
Carbide Purox processes under the heading of "Syngas."
http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/spc/Solid_Waste_Management/index.asp
The article refers to the gas produced by each of these processes
as "syngas" even though the first two produce a gas containing 55% and
69% N2 respectively, whereas the Purox process gas was found to be
nitrogen free.
The authors appear to be approaching the definition of "syngas"
from the perspective of producing a synthetic form of natural gas. This
is contrary to my recollection (I was "courted" by Union Carbide in the
early seventies) of how Carbide thought of the gas produced by the Purox
procees in that their goal was the conversion of MSW into chemical feed
stocks instead of pipeline gas.
~~ Walt
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