VOL.7, NO. 8
GENERATION OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE
1909
J. LEWIS,J. DICK,and W. C. HOPE,British Patent 229,798 (1923). MOSBACHER, 2. angew. Chem., 30,176 (1917). C . L. PARSONS, J. Am. Chen. Soc., 25,231 (1903). E. RUPP.2. engm. Chem., 29,416 (1916). N ,c k m . Appar., 3,233,257,281 (1908). M. C. S C K ~ T E Z. N . S. SERINI~, C h . - A n a l y s t , 16,15 (1927). A. SEIDELL."Solubilities of Inorganic and Organic Substances," D. Van Nostrand Co.. 1919. 3. C h ~ mSoc., . 117,527 (1920). B. D. STEELEand H. G. DENHAM, H. F. WATTS,West. Chem. Met., 4, 54 (1908).
Origin of Helium-Rich Natural Gas. Helium is remarkable for its unusual facility in diffusing through glass and other materials. Williams and Ferguson have shown that a t 500°C. the permeability of quartz-glass t o helium is nearly thirty times that to hydrogen. R. C. Wells has painted out the application of this and similar results t o the problem of the origin of helium concentrations in natural gas (I.Wash. Acad. Sci., Sept. 19. 1929). He writes, "We may suppose that when deeply buried rocks became heated, as they evidently have been during certain geologic epochs in some localities. helium would have a particular and special tendency t o escape a t one stage of the heating. say 200: and, if then collected and trapped by overlying impermeable harriers in a cooler environment. would constitute helium-rich gas." Wells directs attention t o another process that similarly contributes t o helium concentration. He has investigated the diffusion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide through the pores of ball-clay, and finds, in nccordlnce with the principles first estahlishcd hy Graham, thzt in every mixture the first fraction that passes throuyh is richer in hydrogen than the origin21 miaturc He suggests that it is reasonable t o suppose that heliunrwill behave like hydrogen and that the process of diffusion is worthy of consideration as a preferential means of concentrating helium. Thus, for the first time, a reasonably satisfactory explanation is farthcoming for the presence of relatively abundant helium in natural gases from mines, springs, and earth vents generally.-Nature Natural Gas. I n the October issue of the School Science Reuiew, Mr. J. Kewley, of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, gives an interesting account of natural gas from petroleum wells, which consists essentially of hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, methane predominating. This is produced in enormous amounts, and is not always utilized. At present 32 million cubic feet per day are uselessly burned in Persia. New applications of the gas are, however, being found. I n the United States this gas is supplied for heating purposes t o industry and for making carbon black, which is obtained by the incomplete combustion of the gas and is used as a pigment and in the manufacture of motor tires. The modern tire contains about 30 per cent of carbon black incorporated with rubber, and this very greatly increases its resistance t o wear. Another use of the gas is the extraction of volatile liquid constituents from i t for blending with motor spirit. Ten per cent of this now comes from the natural gas. The very volatile constituents are stored in spherical tanks of large capacity, up t o 1000 tons, called Horton spheres, and Mr. Kewley states that there is some prospect of the introduction of these tanks into Great Britaim for the storage of coal gas under pressure. He considers that there is likely to be a considerable utilization of natural gas in making synthetic chemical products, such as formaldehyde, alcohols, and acetone, for use in the rapidly developing cellulose paint and other industries.-Nature ~
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