Being prepared from
chalk and any cheap mineral acid, hydrochloric by preference, in the
cold, carbon dioxide is so cheap that its price in comparison with that
of acetylene is almost _nil_; and therefore, on the above
assumption, 105 volumes of diluted acetylene might be made essentially
for the same price as 100 volumes of neat acetylene, and according to
supposition emit 5 per cent. more light per unit of volume.
It is reported that several railway trains in Austria are regularly
lighted with acetylene containing 0.4 to 1.0 per cent. of carbon dioxide
in order to prevent deposition of carbon at the burners. The gas is
prepared according to a patent process which consists in adding a certain
proportion of a "carbonate" to the generator water. In the United
Kingdom, also, there are several installations supplying an acetylene
diluted with carbon dioxide, the gas being produced by putting into that
portion of a water-to-carbide generator which lies nearest to the water-
supply some solid carbonate like chalk, and using a dilute acid to attack
the material. Other inventors have proposed placing a solid acid, like
oxalic, in the former part of a generator and decomposing it with a
carbonate solution; or they have suggested putting into the generator a
mixture of a solid acid and a solid soluble carbonate, and decomposing it
with plain water.
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