2545. ------. [ODELL, W. W.] Combustible Gas. United States Patent 2,052,149, Aug. 25, 1936; appl. filed June 13, 1930. Chem. Abs., vol. 30, 1936, p. 6926.

Combustible gas having a relatively low calorific value is made in a repeated cycled process; 1 cycle comprises first heating a confined porous bed of solid refractory material to incandescence by conducting combustion in contact with the surface of the material then discontinuing the heating operation and making a prolonged gasmaking run with introduction of suitably proportioned amounts of steam, air, and fluid hydrocarbon material such as a petroleum refinery gas, which react to form a gas substantially free from suspended C and which is mainly composed of CO and H₂. The volume of air used is > the vapor volume of the fluid hydrocarbon material but insufficient for the complete combustion of the latter, and the amount of steam used is lower than that at which appreciable amounts of C appear suspended in the generated gas. Describes apparatus.