For these
reasons the simple solution of acetylene in acetone has not become of
industrial importance; but the processes of absorbing either the gas, or
better still its solution in acetone, in porous matter have already
achieved considerable success. Both methods have proved perfectly safe
and trustworthy; but the combination of the acetone process with the
porous matter makes the cylinders smaller per unit volume of acetylene
they contain. Several varieties of solid matter appear to work
satisfactorily, the only essential feature in their composition being
that they shall possess a proper amount of porosity and be perfectly free
from action upon the acetylene or the acetone (if present). Lime does
attack acetone in time, and therefore it is not a suitable ingredient of
the solid substance whenever acetylene is to be compressed in conjunction
with the solvent; so that at present either a light brick earth which has
a specific gravity of 0.5 is employed, or a mixture of charcoal with
certain inorganic salts which has a density of 0.3, and can be introduced
through a small aperture into the cylinder in a semi-fluid condition.
Both materials possess a porosity of 80 per cent.
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