Water gas

Description

An odorless toxic gaseous mixture. Water gas is composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is formed when steam passes over red hot coke or other carbon-containing biomass, such as wood (wood gas). Water gas was used in the 19th century for heating and lighting. By 1890, it was replaced with natural gas. In recent years, this method has been used to convert waste products to energy by producing 'syngas'.

Synonyms and Related Terms

wood gas; coal gas; syngas; dřevoplyn (Ces.); traegas (Dan.); Holzvergasung (Deut.); Gasógeno (Esp.); Gazogène (Fr.); Gassogeno (It.); Gengass (Nor.); Gengas (Sven.)

Authority

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p.405

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Susan E. Schur, Conservation Terminology: A review of Past & Current Nomenclature of Materials, Technology and Conservation, Spring (p.34-39); Summer (p.35-38); Fall (p.25-36), 1985

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 10176

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_gas (Accessed Jan. 15, 2006)

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998