Agamassan is a
porous
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...
substrate used to safely absorb
acetylene
Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...
and thus allow the transport, storage and commercial use of the otherwise unstable gas. It was developed and patented by the
Swedish Nobel Laureate
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
and industrialist
Gustaf Dalén. Dalén was prominent in developing applications for acetylene.
Acetylene can readily explode when in liquid or solid form or while being pressurized, if it is pure. Dalén himself was blinded in an acetylene explosion.
In 1896, French chemists
Georges Claude
Georges Claude (24 September 187023 May 1960) was a French engineer and inventor. He is noted for his early work on the industrial liquefaction of air, for the invention and commercialization of neon lighting, and for a large experiment on gener ...
and Albert Hess discovered that large quantities of acetylene could be dissolved in
acetone
Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a charact ...
and rendered nonexplosive.
As the liquid was reduced by consumption or cooling, explosive acetylene gas would collect in the space above the liquid's surface. The solution was to compress acetylene in a porous medium.
Before Dalén's work, numerous attempts were made to find a mass sufficiently elastic to withstand shock without crumbling and producing cavities filled with explosive acetylene gas.
Acetylene is shipped and stored in metal cylinders filled with agamassan, which is half-filled with
dimethylformamide
Dimethylformamide, DMF is an organic compound with the chemical formula . Its structure is . Commonly abbreviated as DMF (although this initialism is sometimes used for 2,5-dimethylfuran, dimethylfuran, or dimethyl fumarate), this colourless liqui ...
(DMF) or acetone. The acetylene is dissolved in the DMF or acetone. Such cylinders are safe to transport and use.
In Swedish, the porous filler is known as "AGA-massan", which would translate as "AGA mass", "AGA body", or "AGA compound".
AGA was the company Dalén founded. The compound originally consisted of, among other things, asbestos, cement, and coal. The 1930 US patent also mentions kieselguhr (
diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth ( ), also known as diatomite ( ), celite, or kieselguhr, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous rock, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging fr ...
).
References and further reading
About Gustaf Dalén*{{US patent, 1767514: Porous mass for the storage of explosive gases and method for making same; issued June 24, 1930
Materials
Industrial gases