We live in a technological age, with advances and innovations happening on a seemingly daily basis. It’s hard to believe that certain industries rely on tools that have changed very little in over a century. One such industry is metal cutting, where legacy fuels such as acetylene are slow to embrace innovation.
Acetylene, an accidental discovery in 1836 by chemistry professor Edmund Davy of the Royal Dublin Society, has been used for welding and metal cutting since the early 1900s. To this day, it remains the go-to metal cutting fuel used globally, despite being one of the most unstable and dangerous cutting fuels if not handled properly; it can explode with extreme violence, causing large amounts of damage from even a relatively small cylinder.
But, change is coming in the form of alternatives that burn hotter, cut faster, cost less and are significantly safer and more stable. In addition, a limited number of these fuels are made from readily renewable resources, making them cost-effective and, more importantly, environmentally friendly.
One such alternative fuel example is MagneGas2®. Based in Tampa, Florida, MagneGas® Corporation is an innovative alternative energy company that invented a patented Submerged Plasma-Arc Gasification® technology that can either gasify or sterilise a variety of renewable liquid wastes. In its gasification mode, the technology can take renewable liquid wastes such as readily available liquid feedstocks, soybean and other vegetable oils, and convert them into a hydrogen-based gas alternative. This gas, called MagneGas2® is proving to be a superior replacement for a variety of legacy industrial fuels, especially acetylene.
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