Artificial gas

Artificial gas

Before the development of an economical way of transporting natural gas, artificial gas, consisting primarily of hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, was made near where it was to be used. There were several compositions of the artificial gas, depending on the manufacturing process used, and if there were enough hydrocarbons present to add color to the burning gas, the gas was referred to as Illuminating gas. Usually coal was the starting material, but petroleum was sometimes cracked to give Pintsch gas.