69
T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINRERING CHEMISTRY
Jan., 1922
are engaged in the study of nutrition on the fresh and extended lines that, unless we who work elsewhere work very hard, the new science which is developing will. come into the same category.
Presentation of Chandler Medal By George B. Pegram COLUMBIA UNIVZRSITY, NEW YORI, N. Y.
There are certain names that stand for whole periods in the existence of institutions, epitomize epochs of development and accomplishment. No such name a t Columbia stands for more than Chandler. Reaching from the foundation of the School of Mines in 1864 to the present and covering nearly half a century of labor and responsibility in active connection with the development and progress of scientific work a t Columbia, his great personality has built itself into the structure of this University in so intimate a fashion that the keenest analysis could not separate it out. It was, therefore, a most appropriate action for a group of his friends to present to the Trustees of Columbia
University a sum of money constituting the Charles Frederick Chandler Foundation, the income from which is to be used to provide each year a lecture by an eminent chemist and to provide a medal to be presented to the lecturer in public recognition of his achievements in science. The previous lecturers on this Foundation have been I,. H. Baekeland, Sc.D., W F. Hillebrand, Ph.D., and W. R. Whitney, Ph.D. On the recommendation of a University committee, the Trustees of Columbia University have awarded the Chandler Medal for this year to Frederick Gowland Hopkins, F.R.C.P., F.R.S., F.I.C., F.C.S., Fellow of Trinity College, Honorary Fellow of Ernantiel College, Cambridge, Member of the Medical Research Council, and of the Consultative Council to the Minister of Health, Professor of Biological Chemistry, Cambridge University. Professor Hopkins, this medal is presented to you in public recognition of your pioneer and valuable researches in biochemistry, particularly in connection with food accessories, such as vitamines, and your public service on the Medical Research Council and the Consultative Council to the Minister of Health.
ADDRESSES AND CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES Contribution to the Theory of the Water-Gas Process' By S. Kohn ROHM& HAASCo., INC., 40 N. FRONTST., PEILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
The usual explanation of the interaction between steam and carbon is that at about 600" C. carbon dioxide and hydrogen are the chief products formed, according to the equation
C
+ 2H20 = COz + 2H2
(A)
and that, as the temperature rises, more and more carbon monoxide appears in the resulting gases. Finally, at about 1000°C. and above, carbon monoxide and hydrogen are practically the sole constituents of the gases, which may conceivably be formed according to the equation C
+ HzO = CO + Hz.
c + cog c,2C0," and he uses this third equation for further elucidating the peculiar relations between the volume concentrations of the resulting gases in the water-gas process. Rideala thinks that the following combination of three equations represents the chemistry, of the water-gas process: C Hz0 = CO Hz CO HzO COz HZ c f'COa % 2 c o
+
+
These instances will suffice to prove that our present conception of the chemistry of the Brocess is open for discussion, and that 1 2
Received August 3, 1921. "Thermodynamik technischer Gasreaktionen," 293. J . SOG.Chcm. Ind., 40 ( I W l ) , 13t.
POSSIBLE REACTIONS OF STBAM AND CARBON
(B)
At temperatures between 600" and 1000" C., both reactions may be considered as taking place simultaneously. The standing of Equations A and B, as an explanation of the chemistry of the water-gas process, is that of a fairly useful hypothesis. We have no proof that the reactions actually proceed in the manner indicated. Furthermore, while these equations do explain satisfactorily some of the phenomena, they are not sufficient to explain all. Haber,2 after introducing and discussing Equations A and B, adds: "Now one can consider that A and B are also connected by the equation
+ +
each investigator is wont to call upon such a set of two or three equations as may seem to him necessary and sufficient t o depict the reactions and explain the results obtained. As will be shown below, ten sets of equations are theoretically possible. This number will be reduced to three by making a certain assumption, and it will also be demonstrated that the analysis of the resulting gases, in the cases under observation, not only supports the assumption made but also contains a definite clue as to which of the three sets of equations represents the actual procedure of the reactions. When steam reacts on carbon,'carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen are formed (we shall ignore here the formation of small amounts of methane and other hydrocarbons), and all possible interactions between the steam and carbon and the resulting three gases are represented by four reversible equations:
+ 2Hz0 = COz + 2Hz + HzO = CO +Hz COS+ Hz = CO + HzO coz + c = 2 c o C C
(A)
(B) (C) ID)
It may happen that reactions according to all four equations occur simultaneously (A, B, C, and D) or that under certain conditions only the four possible combinations of three will assert themselves, and finally we can think of the possibility of either one of five possible pairs of equations representing the actual procedure, that is, A and B, A and C, A and D, €3 and C, and B and D. If we consider, however, that there are indications that carbon monoxide is not formed by the direct oxidation of carbon' but that carbon dioxide is formed primarily and the occurrence of carbon monoxide in the gases is to be ascribed to a secondary reduction of COZ to CO by means of hydrogen or carbon, the ten combinations enumerated above dwindle to three, namely, A and C, A and D, or A, C, and D. That is to say, the chemistry of the water-gas process most probably consists of two consecu4
Haber, LOC.cit., 238.
