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atmospheres, 276.0 therms; and at 1Q0 atmospheres, 311.2 therms. Moreover. Borne methane was still being produced when the experiments were stopped 1.5 hours after attaining 800° C . A t 50 and 100 atmospheres there was evidence of an increased yield of tar. The outgoing gas was of high, calorific value during the most active periods a t the higher pressures. The maximum calorific values reached were, in B. t . u. per cubic foot, 60° F. and 30 inches saturation, 345 at 1 atmosphere, 429 at 5 atmospheres, 500 at 10 atmospheres, 589 at 2 5 atmospheres, 719 at 50 atmospheres, and 914 at 100 atmospheres. The calorific value ol the gas obtained with a given pressure could be varied, however, b y modification of the rate of heating the coke o r of the rate at which hydrogen was supplied. Thus the gas had a higher calorific value when the rate of heating was increased or the rate of hydrogen supply reduced, although there was an accompanying decrease in the yield of hydrocarbons per ton. When the coke was heated in ihydrogen under pressure, the reactions resulted in a marked absorption of the hydrogen supplied. The absorption began -with the appearance of metnane at about 500 ° C. and continued until the end of the experiment. The therms in the hydrogen absorbed per ton of coke were 32.9 at 5 atmospheres, 60.8 at 10 atmospheres, 107.7 at 25 atmospheres, 153.5 at 5 0 atmospheres, and 193.5 at 100 atmospheres. The potential heat in the hydrogen absorbed contributed only part of that in the hydrocarbons produced. The additional heat was derived from the coke and, at the higher pressures, a large proportion of the coke was gasified. The coke contained 19.8 per cent of "volatile matter" when tested by the standard crucible method but, when treated with hydrogen up to 800° C , the percentage loss in weight was: —18.6 at 1 atmosphere, 27.7 at 5 atmospheres, 34.9 at 10 atmospheres, 44.6 at 25 atmospheres, 62.4 at 5 0 atmospheres, and 72.0 at 100 atmospheres. When the coke was heated in hydrogen at the lower pressures, the hydrogénation reactions proceeded most rapidly at 500° to 550° C . the temperature range in which the coke decomposed with the evolution of methane when heated in. nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. I n hydrogen at higher pressures, the most rapid hydro-
VOL. 16, N O . 5
génation occurred at higher temperatures Presentation of A. î . M . E. —vis., 700 ° to 750 ° C. This range is also Medals related t o the thermal decomposition of the coke, since it is at such temperatures 'HE Anthony F. Lucas gold medal was that coke is known to undergo a profound presented to Henry L. Doherty at the change with the development of a denser annual dinner of the American Institute of carbon structure and, normally, a marked Mining and Metallurgical Engineers on liberation of hydrogen. I t seems clear February 16. The institute also prethat the hydrogénation of coke to gaseous sented the Robert Woolston Hunt prize hydrocarbons depends to a considerable of $250 t o Thomas S. Washburn and John extent upon the coke being thermally un- Hunter Nead; the J. E. Johnson, Jr., stable a t the temperature of treatment award to Roy A. Lindgren; and the James and that the main function of the hydroDouglas medal to Hal W. Harding. gen atmosphere is to modify the course of a decomposition which would in any case take place. Further evidence was obtained in support of this view. Other fuels treated with hydrogen at high pressures were lignite, semi-anthracite, and cokes from a weakly caking coal. It is remarkable that, although there was 8om
