§ 118. Mr. Geoffrey Lloydasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he can make a statement about the production of town gas by the catalytic gasification of petroleum oils and its possible contribution to the present shortage of coal and coke.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerAt a research meeting of the Institution of Gas Engineers a few days ago, some advance particulars were given of experimental work which is being conducted by one of the area gas boards, on a process of catalytic gasification of petroleum oils. I regret that it is too soon to assess the practical value of this work, if the present experiments succeed. The successful development of the process may well lead in due course to some saving in the coal and coke used by gasworks, but I am afraid that this is unlikely to be of appreciable help during the present winter.