Handbook of Energy

Section 9

Manufactured Gas

The term Manufactured Gas refers to an artificially created gas that was once widely used as a fuel. It is distinct from natural gas, the dominant fuel gas of the current era. Manufactured gas was produced mainly from coal and was thus also known as coal gas.

The heyday of manufactured gas use was from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, when it was eclipsed by other energy sources such as electricity and natural gas. Manufactured gas is thus unusual among the topics covered in this book under the Energy Sources theme, in that it did not come into use until the industrial age and it is virtually extinct today. This is in contrast with ancient energy sources—animal power, biomass, ...