World history of manufactured gas: a ‘world’ of land redevelopment possibilities

Allen W. Hatheway 

Abstract
Two outstanding 21st century forces of environmental imperative and commercial attraction are rapidly converging on the world scene of former manufactured gas plants and other coal-tar sites. Within the past five years, the fears of dealing with derelict gas plants have transformed into attractive land redevelopment possibilities wherein the urban harbor and riverside coal-tar brownfields are now blossoming into affordable first-class remediation opportunities.
Two general classes for FMGP sites are dominant; 1) those of the European and North American countries, dominated by large-capacity urban plants and a network of smaller low-pressure works, and 2), coastal trading-port cities, most of which were afforded with up-to-date European plant components, operating with local organic feedstocks.
Manufactured gas plants were an early transfer of high technology to nearly all of the colonial entrepots by the mid-19th century, as part of the traditional European cultural amenities sought by administrators and traders alike. These works tended to be concentrated at port cities and were not constructed for the general benefit of the native populations, but today represent logical redevelopment possibilities wherein environmental concerns may be traded for affordable access to otherwise contaminated lands. No longer are the peoples of these formerly exotic places subject to much foreign influence, but the common causes of environmental improvement can be blended with local economic incentives based on world-trade advantages of most of the former colonial world.
In most cases, trading-port cities relied on a variety of organic materials for coal-gas feedstock's and the nature of gas manufacturing residuals and wastes should follow some of the now-established guidelines for proper site redevelopment. Most of these situations can be translated into exciting redevelopment possibilities attuned to good environmental remediation practice. 

Key words: historical summary, history, manufactured gas, technology, technology transfer, worldwide 

Land Contamination & Reclamation, 14 (2), 2006, 171-181 

DOI 10.2462/09670513.773 

Updated: 26-Jun-2006