History of Industrial Gases History of Industrial Gases
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL GASES HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL GASES Ebbe Almqvist Ebbe Almqvist Consulting Sweden Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Almqvist, Ebbe. History of industrial gaseslby Ebbe Almqvist. p. cm. lncludes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4613-4962-4 ISBN 978-1-4615-0197-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-0197-8 1. Gases-History. 1. Title. TP242 .A38 2002 665.7'09-dc2l 2002066906 ISBN 978-1-4613-4962-4 ©2oo3 Springer Science+Business Media New York Origina\ly published by Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers. New York in 2003 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 2003 http://www.wkap.nl/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A c.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress AII rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, ar otherwise, without written pennission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. PREFACE All history goes to show that the progress of society has invariably been on lines quite different from those laid down in advance, and generally by reasons of inventions and discoveries which few or none had expected. 1. H. Beadle, 1893 The history of industrial gases is a story that starts at the dawn of science and continues to today's huge global industry, which plays a role in almost every area of life. This book gives an overview of the history of gases, from the ancient theories of mysterious "airs", to the discovery and development of different gases, to their present production and application procedures. Such an understanding is essential for people involved in the gas industry and should also be of interest for anyone curious about how our environment came to be known, investigated, and developed. The historical development of industrial gas technology and business and its impact on society during the last century is treated in particular detail. Current pro duction, distribution, and applications of gases are based on discoveries and devel opments in different areas of science and technology. This aspect of the book may be especially valuable for engineering and marketing staff in industrial gas companies and for their customers. The uses of gases range from those of steelworks, which use thousands of tons of oxygen per day, to those of semiconductor fabrication plants, which may handle kilogram quantities of high-purity specialty gases. Just as interesting as the applications are the ways in which the gases are man ufactured. Even to people with some familiarity with industrial gas production methods, it is remarkable that liquid oxygen and nitrogen in low quantities can be sold for around the price of milk. The present industrial gas business may be divided into the "on-site market", in which gas is made for an individual user and produced on or adjacent to the cus tomer's operation site and delivered by pipeline for immediate consumption, and the "merchant gases market," the bulk and cylinder business, in which the products are made at a central location and transported in pipelines, tankers, cylinders, and insulated flasks to thousands of applications in many customers' facilities. On-site production of industrial gases is now feasible even for smaller con sumption due to new production methods. This reduces costs for customers because v vi Preface of the reduction of transportation costs. Such plants are owned and run by industrial gas companies and customers do not have to worry about the capital cost of equip ment or personnel to operate the plant. Today, the on-site market makes up at least 20 percent of the worldwide industrial gas business. It is the fastest growing segment and is expected to continue to expand with a very high growth rate in the next decades. The driving forces for the present growth of the business are: • Environmental protection. The stricter emissions regulations in more and more countries have made environmental protection an especially important issue. Environmental applications and technology have been extremely important since improved processes of water treatment or purification of waste air have been developed. Furthermore, environmental pressures in developed countries have forced petrochemical plants to shift to the substi tution of oxygen for air. • New geographic areas. Additional opportunities are being afforded due to the industrialization of the developing world, particularly Asia and Latin America, where basic steelmaking and chemical capacity is being built. • Higher purity, quality, and efficiency in industrial processes. Greater purity of gas is required in such areas as electronics and special optical manufactur ing. Quality foods require particularly high product purity. For example, rapid freezing using liquid nitrogen preserves the fresh taste of shrimp. Food handling, such as transporting, freezing, packaging, and storing, is also a growth area for gases. New and expanding areas for gases include control of the ripening of fruits and high-pressure extraction applications in areas such as fruit juice production and decaffeination of coffee. Acknowledgements The compilation of a broad history like this one would not have been possible without assistance from specialists in the different subjects treated. Many colleagues in the major industrial gas companies have influenced, encouraged, and otherwise contributed positively to the writing of this book. Because much company archive material was destroyed during the world wars, there is a lack of much historical evidence of when and how the industrial gas busi nesS started and developed in different countries (see Chapter 6). I have made every effort to provide the most accurate information available, but the record is not com plete. I have, however, received much information on how the global business was created through interviews, discussions, and e-mails. Without singling out any individuals, I would like to express my gratitude for their support to all who contributed their time and expertise. I would, however, like to specifically thank my former AGA colleague John Campbell and his staff at JR Campbell & Associates, Lexington, Massachusetts, for helping me turn my original manuscript into a book. Ebbe Almqvist October 2001 FOREWORD: HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL GASES This marvelous book tracks the history of industrial gases from some of the very earliest theories of gases by Aristotle, through the observation and discovery of gases by some of the great scientists of the past 500 years, through discovery of oxygen by Scheele and Priestley in the 1770s, and further to current and anticipated devel opments in related gas products, production technologies, market uses and unique applications. A great deal of attention is paid by author Ebbe Almqvist to the major players who have built up this industry which produces and distributes and provides many unique customer services - like supplying liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen and liquid helium to NASA's Space Shuttle, and keeping the super sophis ticated medical diagnostic system, MRI, topped off with liquid helium. This book has taken Ebbe a decade of painstaking research gathering of some of the little known facts of our industry's development, and working with a large number of people to provide some wonderful drawings and photos of aspects of our industry and its development. This is the very first work of its kind about our industry and provides great background reading for newcomers to our industry and to old hands who continue vii viii Foreword to wonder how this fascinating business came to be so much a part of all of our lives, in industry, medicine, science and commerce. It is particularly appropriate at this time as several of the major companies which have built this specialized industry are cel ebrating being at or over the century mark in business. 1. R. Campbell Publisher, Cryogas International CONTENTS 1. History of Gases: Introduction 1 Discoveries in England by Priestley, Black, Cavendish, and Rutherford 1 Sweden and Scheele 2 It All Begins with Ancient Theories and Alchemy 2 Paracelsus and Hydrogen Gas 3 The Defense of Alchemy 4 What Happened to the Newly Discovered Gases and Their Discoverers? 4 The Liquefaction of Gas 5 References 6 2. From Aristotle to the Birth of Modern Chemistry 7 2.1. From Aristotle to the Birth of Pneumatic Chemistry 7 Ancient Theories 7 Iatrochemistry 9 The Phlogiston Theory 18 References 19 2.2. The Discovery of Gases and the True Nature of Combustion 19 Carbon Dioxide 19 Hydrogen 20 Nitrogen 22 Oxygen 23 Laughing Gas, NzO 25 Hydrogen + Oxygen = Water 26 The Birth of Modern Chemistry 27 References 30 2.3. Biographies of the Early Pioneers in the Study of Gases 30 Paracelsus 30 Johann Baptista van Helmont 31 Otto von Guericke 32 ix x Contents Robert Hooke 33 Johann Joachim Becher 33 Georg Ernst Stahl 34 Robert Boyle 34 John Mayow 35 Stephen Hales 36 Joseph Black 37 Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov 37 Joseph Priestley 38 Carl Wilhelm Scheele 40 Daniel Rutherford 41 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier 42 Henry Cavendish 43 William Ramsay 44 References 45 3. Industrial Gases: Background 47 3.1. Hydrogen: The Gas That Had a Flying Start 47 The Dream of Flight 47 The Discovery of Hydrogen 48 Hydrogen: "Inflammable Air" as Fuel 48 Lighter-Than-Air Experiments 49 Methods of Production 52 Hydrogen Airships 55 Twentieth-Century Applications 57 Short Biographies 63 References 63 3.2. Oxygen: "Fire Air" 64 Background 64 The Discovery 64 A New Theory of Combustion 65 Production of Oxygen 65 Liquid Air 68 Oxygen Applications: The Use of Oxygen during the Nineteenth Century 71 Medical Applications 74 Modern Applications for Oxygen 75 Short Biographies 81 References 82 3.3.