2323.     MORLEY, R. J.  Winkler Generators for Manufacture of Water Gas.  BIOS Final Rept. 333, 1945, 37 pp., PB 25,587; TOM Reel 227.

        All the available information concerning Winkler generators, contained in CIOS reports and in documents brought back from Germany in 1945 is collected and combined with literature references to give a comprehensive account of the history and present status of the process.  The process is technically sound, and it is possible to operate Winkler generators on bituminous coals, low-temperature coke from bituminous coal or even anthracite; operation, however, is not satisfactory, and, in general, it appears that the process is not economic for such fuels, where cheap fuel and coke-oven water-gas generators are available.  The Winkler process is not suited to making town’s gas, as the calorific value is low, and its field of application appears to be limited to the large scale production of water gas, to be used for manufacture of H₂, MeOH, or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis gas, of producer gas to be used as a fuel or power gas, and of NH₃ synthesis gas, but, in all cases, based on a cheap fuel.  The 2 great disadvantages of the Winkler process are its relatively poor thermal efficiency (66 and 60%, respectively, for water-gas and power-gas production at Leuna; the thermal efficiency is raised somewhat if all the C in the escaping dust is recovered for boiler fuel) and the cost of O₂.  A further disadvantage of O₂-gasification is that any O₂ added must eventually appear as CO₂ in the synthesis gas, hence greater compression and water scrubbing costs are incurred to remove it with corresponding capital costs.  The capital cost of a Wrinkler plant, including O₂ plant, waste heat boilers, etc., is somewhat greater than that of a corresponding coke water-gas plant, including coke ovens.  The O₂ plant probably costs more than the Winkler plant it supplies.  A rough figure for labor costs of water gas may be taken as 0.4 man-hr. per 1,000 m.³ of synthesis gas.  Maintenance costs at Leuna averaged in 1935 RM 1.75 per 1,000 m.³ for an output of 20,000 m.³ per hr. of synthesis gas; for power gas RM 0.46 per 1,000 m.³ for an output of 50,000 m.³ per hr.  Extensive data are given for plant operation and performance for production of both water and power gas from grude-coke and brown coal.