604.    ---------------.  [COKE AND SMOKELESS-FREE AGE.]  Pintsch-Hillebrand Gasification Process.  Vol. 8, 1946, pp. 218-220.

      Pintsch-Hillebrand process is based on the use of heated circulating gas to supply the necessary heat for the reaction.  Two plants are known:  One at Hamburg gasifying brown-coal briquets and the other at the Wesseling hydrogenation plant of the Union rheinische Braunkohlen-Kraftstoff, which consists of 11 units, each of 5,500 m.³ per hr. capacity, and uses brown-coal briquets with a pregasification shaft to drive off the tar.  The construction and operation of the plant are illustrated and described, and operating results are tabulated.  Since the plant was gravity operated, a very uniform fuel was necessary for efficient operation.  The briquets were suitable if they had a specific gravity of 1.23, a moisture content of 13.5-14%, a strength of 140-180 kg. per cm.² (2,000-2,500 p.s.i.) and an ash-softening point of not less than 1,290°-1,300°.  The gas produced was suitable for synthesis gas, having a CO:H₂ ratio of about 1:2.