1074.    FOSTER, J. F.  Investigation of a Continuous Process for the Production of Water Gas From Pulverized Coal.  Symposium on Production of Synthesis Gas, 112^th Meeting American Chemical Society, September 1947, pp. 137-150; Ind. Eng. Chem., vol. 40, 1938, pp. 586-592; Chem. Abs., vol. 42, 1948, p. 4328.

        Investigation was made of the feasibility of producing water gas by a continuous method by reacting steam and pulverized coal in a vertical, externally heated alloy tube, 25-12 Cr-Ni, 11 ft. long and 5 in. and 8 ¼ in. inside diameter, respectively, suspended in and passing through the furnace and heated externally by gas burners to approximately 2,100° and 1,850° F.  Only noncoking coals were used successfully at varying feed rates.  The rate of production of water gas was found to depend on temperature, rate of fuel feed, rate of stream supply, tube dimension, and chemical reactivity of the fuel.  An empirical equation has been developed describing the effect of these variables on gas production.  A new constant, called the gasification constant, is shown for measuring the inherent activity of a solid fuel toward reaction with steam.  It is useful for comparing on a common basis the gasification characteristics of different fuels at 1 temperature or 1 fuel at different temperatures since it virtually eliminates the effect of different variables on the volume of gas produced.  Use of the equation permits an estimate of the capacity of equipment of commercial size for the production of water gas.  Estimates of the investment of the larger equipment indicate that these costs are sufficiently higher than those of modern conventional water-gas generators of equivalent capacity to discourage commercial application of the process under present economic conditions.