The history of manufactured gas, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, began with the development of analytical and pneumatic chemistry in the eighteenth century. The manufacturing process typically consisted of the gasification of combustible materials, almost always coal, but also wood and oil. The coal was gasified by heating the coal in enclosed ovens. Coal heated in an oxygen-poor atmosphere gives off gases, including hydrogen, methane, and ethylene, all of which can be burnt for heating and lighting purposes. Coal gas, however, also contains significant quantities of sulfur and ammonia compounds, as well as heavy hydrocarbons, and so the gas needed to be purified before it could be used in most contexts.

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