We experimented upon numerous kinds of fuel, common slack and burgy of the Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire districts. We found not much difference in the amount of nitrogen contained in these fuels, which varied between 1.2 and 1.6 per cent., nor did we find much difference in the ammonia obtained from these fuels if worked under similar conditions. Employing the quantity of steam just named we recovered about half the nitrogen in the form of ammonia, yielding on an average 0.8 per cent. of ammonia, equal to 32 kilos, of sulphate per ton of fuel. In order to obtain regular results we found it necessary to work with a great depth of fuel in the producers, so that slight irregularities in the working would not affect results. Open burning kinds of slack do of course work with the greater ease, but there is no difficulty in using a caking fuel, as the low temperature at which the producers work prevents clinkering and diminishes the tendency of such fuels to cake together.

The quantity of steam thus required to obtain a good yield of ammonia is rather considerable, and threatened to become a serious item of expense. Only one-third of this steam is decomposed, in its passage through the producer, and two-thirds remain mixed with the gases which leave the producer. My endeavors were consequently directed toward finding means to recover this steam, and to return it to the producers, and also to utilize the heat of the gases which leave the producers with a temperature of 450° to 500° C., for raising steam for the same purpose. The difficulties in the way of attaining this end and at the same time of recovering, in a simple manner, the small amount of ammonia contained in the immense volume of gas we have to deal with, were very great. We obtain from one ton of coal 160,000 cubic feet of dry gas at 0° C. and atmospheric pressure. The steam mixed with this gas as it leaves the producer adds another 80,000 cubic feet to this, and the large amount of latent heat in this quantity of steam makes the problem still more difficult.

The application of cooling arrangements, such as have been successfully applied to blast furnace gases, in which there is no steam present, and which depend upon the cooling through the metallic sides of the apparatus, is here practically out of the question. After trying a number of different kinds of apparatus, I have succeeded in solving the problem in the following way:

The gases issuing from the producers are led through a rectangular chamber partly filled with water, which is thrown up in a fine spray by revolving beaters so as to fill the whole area of the chamber. This water, of course, becomes hot; a certain quantity of it evaporates, the spray produced washes all dust and soot out of the gases, and also condenses the fixed ammonia. The water thus becomes, to a certain degree, saturated with ammonia salts, and a certain portion of it is regularly removed from the chamber and distilled with lime to recover the ammonia.

Longitudinal Section of Plant for obtaining Ammonia from Gas Producers.
Cross Section through Gas Producers.

This chamber is provided with water lutes, through which the tar condensed in it is from time to time removed. From this chamber the gases, which are now cooled down to about 100° C., and are loaded with a large amount of water vapor, are passed through a scrubber filled with perforated bricks, in which the ammonia contained in the gases is absorbed by sulphuric acid. In this scrubber a fairly concentrated solution of sulphate of ammonia containing 36 to 38 per cent. is used, to which a small quantity of sulphuric acid is added, so that the liquid leaving the scrubber contains only 2.5 per cent. of free acid. This is necessary, as a liquid containing more acid would act upon the tarry matter and produce a very dark-colored solution. The liquid running from the scrubber is passed through a separator in which the solution of sulphate of ammonia separates from the tar. The greater portion of the clear liquid is, after adding a fresh quantity of acid to it, pumped back through the scrubber. A certain portion of it is, after treatment with a small quantity of heavy tar oils, which take the tarry matter dissolved in it out, evaporated in conical lead-lined pans furnished with lead steam coils, and which are kept constantly filled by the addition of fresh liquor until the whole mass is thick.

This is then run out on a strainer and yields, after draining and washing with a little water, a sulphate of ammonia of very fair quality, which finds a ready sale. The mother liquor, which contains all the free acid, is pumped back to the scrubber.

The gas on entering this scrubber contains only 0.13 volume per cent. of ammonia, and on leaving the scrubber it contains not more than one-tenth of this quantity. Its temperature has been reduced to 80° C., and is fully saturated with moisture, so that practically no condensation of water takes place in the scrubber. The gas is next passed through a second scrubber filled with perforated wood blocks. In this it meets with a current of cold water which condenses the steam, the water being thereby heated to about 78° C. In this scrubber the gas is cooled down to about 40°-50° C., and passes from it to the gas main leading to the various places where it is to be consumed. The hot water obtained in this second scrubber is passed through a vessel suitably constructed for separating the tar which is mixed with it, and is then pumped through a third scrubber, through which, in an opposite direction to the hot water, cold air is passed. This is forced by means of a Roots blower through the scrubber into the producer.

The air gets heated to about 76° C. and saturated with moisture at that temperature by its contact with the hot water, and the water leaves this third scrubber cold enough to be pumped back through the second scrubber. The same quantity of water is thus constantly used for condensing the water vapor in one scrubber and giving it up to the air in the other. In this way we recover and return to the producer fully two-thirds of the steam which has been originally introduced, so that we have to add to the air, which has thus been loaded with moisture, an additional quantity of steam equal to only one-third of the total quantity required before it enters the producer. This additional quantity of steam, which amounts to 0.6 ton of steam for every ton of fuel burnt, we obtain as exhaust steam from the engines driving the blowers and pumps required for working the plant.