[Gasification] Was: DIY GtL, Now: the odd box and the house lighting

[Thomas Reed]

Dear Pete, Jeff and all

I used to work for Union Carbide and served on the "carbide committee" whose task it was to find new profitable uses for CaC2, the magical electrochemical "rocks" that make acetylene according to

1). CaO + 3 C===> CaC2 + CO
   Lime.     Coke.     Calcium carbide.  Carbon monoxide

Done at a very large scale in electric furnaces when electricity was very cheap (in Niagara Falls here I worked)

2). CaC2 + H2O ===> C2H2 + Ca(OH)2
                                 Acetylene.  Slaked lime
And huge piles of this lime were out back wherever they were making acetylene.

The acetylene was used in carbide lamps that you can still buy for Spelunking in caves or to make acetylene for oxyacetylene welding, still practiced in poorer parts of the world where electric welding isn't available.  I could still buy the carbide and lamps in Golden, CO, ( NOT carbon monoxide) a few years ago and I highly recommend the, as Christmas presents for young kids of a scientific and explosive nature.  They give a wonderful ight controlled by the rate at which you drip water on the rocks(reaction 2 above). 

-------

So, yes, the box was probably an acetylene generator.

Tom the Tinkerer Reed chemist

Dr Thomas B Reed
President, The Biomass Energy Foundation
www.Woodgas.com

On Feb 2, 2011, at 4:24 PM, Pete&Sheri <spaco at baldwin-telecom.net> wrote:

> My guess is that it was not hydrogen, rather acetylene.
> 
> Pete Stanaitis
> ---------------------
> 
> Luke Gardner wrote:
>> <snip>
>> ---and remove this very odd metal box located outdoors, but under a large overhang of the attached mechanical wing.
>> 3. remove all of these sconce like lamps used for lighting throughout the place.
>>  
>> <snip>
>> Me being of curious nature asked around how did these lamps work?
>> no one knew...  until I asked this local old duffer running a concrete crew, he explained that they were gas lamps, when I inquired where they got the "gas" he pointed to the odd box that we were removing, he answered "from that hydrogen generator"  At which point my boss started chewing ass about my lack of work being accomplished.
>>  
>> 20+ years later my memory is washed clean of any of the particulars of the plumbing and whatnot, and I find myself building a gasifier for grid tied power production, with ambitions of waste heat capture for home heating, and fancy the idea of capture and storage for cooking, lighting, and even small scale GTL for personal use.
> How big is your intended grid tied power producer going to be and how much do you think it will cost by the time you have it tied to the grid?
>>  
> 
> 
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