ABSTRACT
Electricity generating stations and gasworks have a great deal in common. They are often among the largest of industrial buildings and dominate not only their immediate surroundings but frequently the entire town. Coal gas is made by heating bituminous coal in air-tight retorts, or ovens, so that all the volatile constituents are driven off and only the solid coke is left. Many gasworks include a carburetted water-gas plant. Water-gas is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon-monoxide, made by passing air and steam alternatively over red-hot coke. Its calorific value is increased by enriching it with cracked gas-oil vapour when it becomes carburetted water-gas, which is then mixed with ordinary coal gas for general use. The heat of combustion of the coal is used to produce high pressure steam which drives rotary turbines which in their turn drive electric generators. The process is a roundabout one and is wasteful of energy.
