Abstract
HIGHEB paraffins such as butane are easily liquefied at air temperature, and give a concentrated and easily vaporised liquid fuel, the most concentrated fuel commercially available having a heating value of 21,000 B.T.U. per Ib. In several countries this product has been recovered from natural sources or oil refineries, and distributed in cylinders. In the United States this ‘bottled gas’ has become extensively used in rural areas, and the development of coal hydrogenation in England has led to its being marketed now under the name of ‘Calorgas’. H. Pickering recently described its properties before the Institute of Fuel, and there is little doubt that the gas, which is practically free from sulphur, will find many applications where a public gas supply is not available. The scope will be more limited under British conditions owing to the wide dispersion of gas mains and the low price of public supplies per therm. On the figures given, the price of the unit of heat in Calorgas is 290£. per therm. In the compressed gas trade, the cost ofcylinders and distribution usually form the main item, and so it seems that the use of ‘bottled gas' will depend on the extent to which those charges can be lowered by developing the market.
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Higher Paraffins as Liquid Fuel. Nature 137, 695–696 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137695c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137695c0