Contrary to the usual progress in human civilization, the raw material for town gas making sarted in coal, the most complex of hydrocarbons, became petroleum products, less complex, and is now fast changing into methane (natural gas), the simplest form of a hydrocarbon.
In the foreseeable future, it is predicted that the town gas all over the world will become a straight natural gas due to advancement of techniques of sea transportation of LNG.
However, in the fardistant future when all petroleum and natural gas will have disappeared from the earth crust, the town gas must again rely on coal whose reserves are far more abundant than those of petroleum and natural gas. In this case, however, the gas obtained from coal must be a substitute for natural gas.
The following list of chapters will give an outline of this paper:
I. Changing Modes of Raw Materials for Town Gas Making.
II. Changing Pattern of Methods of Town Gas Making.
1. Coal Carbonisation.
2. Coal Gasification.
3. Oil Gasification.
III. Recent Status of Gas Industries in Various Countries.
IV. The Town Gas in the Foreseeable Future.
1. Natural Gas.
2. LNG.
3. New Sources of Natural Gas.
V. The Town Gas in the Far-distant Future.
VI. Conclusion.
