Gasification Systems Technologies
Gasification Basics
How long has gasification been available?
Gasification was originally developed in the early 1800s. It was used to produce “town gas” (syngas) from coal for lighting and cooking. Town gas was used to light city streets and homes before natural gas and electricity were introduced for that purpose. New technologies sprang up, based on the new fuel source: heaters, stoves, ovens, refrigerators, washing machines, and gas engines
Early Gasification Milestones
Date |
Milestone |
1790s |
William Murdoch experiments with various types of gas, settling on coal gas as the most effective |
1804 |
Coal gas first patented for lighting |
1813 |
London and Westminster Gas Light & Coke Company illuminates Westminster Bridge with “town gas” lights on New Year's Eve using wooden pipes |
1816 |
Baltimore, Maryland becomes the first U.S. city to light streets with “town gas” |
1800s |
“Town gas” lighting in factories replaces candles and lanterns, making the night shift possible and ushering in the Industrial Age |
By the early 1900s, syngas had fallen out of general public use, replaced by electricity and natural gas. Since the 1920s, gasification has been used mostly for the production of synthetic fuels and chemicals, especially during times of war when petroleum-based fuels (gasoline and oil) were at a premium or unavailable. Some nations (notably the Union of South Africa) have used gasification to produce a gasoline substitute for transportation fuels, because domestic petroleum sources were lacking and oil difficult to import.
Today, increasing global fuel costs are causing increasing interest in using gasification as an energy resource.
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