SMOKELESS FUEL

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 84, 3 January 1930, Page 12

SMOKELESS FUEL

EXPERIMENTS AT GREENWICH WHAT RESEARCH IS DOING Lord Pannoor, Lord President of the Council, paid an official visit recently to the Fuel Research Station at Greenwich, where he inspected various types of plant in operation, by means of which important investigations are. being conducted with no small degree of technical success. He was accompanied by Dr. C. 11. Lander, Director of Fuel Research; Dr. F. S. Sinnatt, Assistant Director; Engineer*Captain J. Fraser Shaw, Chief Engineer; Dr. F. E. Smith, secretary of the Department; and Mr. LI. S. Lloyd, assistant secretary. All the industrial nations of the world are concentrating attention on fuel research, each of them directing its investigations according to its special needs. Along its own lines of advance British research is moving as fast as that of any other nation, and much work has been done, not only at the stations under the direction of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but also by large industrial organisations and individual firms. The station at Greenwich is the largest of the six under the control of the Department. Five smaller stations are situated in the various coalfields, and two other local stations will be opened soon. When these are in operation about 90 per cent, of the coal raised in Great Britain will be covered by the physical and chemical survey of the national ressources. One of the most interesting problems which has been attacked at Greenwich is that of the production by low temperature carbonisation of a smokeless fuel for domestic purposes and of a home supply of fuel oih This question has been studied since 1919 by the use of a series of experimental retorts. The first type Of retort consisted of horizontal steel chambers in which coal was carbonised in trays. A satisfactory fuel resulted, but the plant was not considered economic owing to high labour costs. Last year a continuuo’s vertical retort was evolved, which, after various changes, is now operating satisfactorily at a “through-put” of four/tons a day for each retort In order to explore’the commercial possibilities of this type of retort, arrangements were made with the Gast Light and Coke Company to operate a bench capable of producing 100 tons of smokeless fuel a day by the process elaborated at the research station. This experiment is still in progress at Richmond. The development of low temperature carbonisation in Great Britain has reached a stage at which companies have been formed, with a total captial of about £5,500,000, for exploiting some 26 different processes.. Plants with a rated capacity in excess of 1000 tons a day are in operation, and additional plants with a nominal capacity of more than 6000 tons a day are being built or are contemplated. Considerable progress is being made, but the economic results are difficult to estimate, because success depends in some cases on the availability of local markets for by-products. Two types of plant have been installed for experimental work upon gas manufacture. The chief aim of the research is to decide the suitability of different classes of coal and to test the efficiency of gas manufacturing processes. Water gas is used at the station for the heating of all retort installations, because it can be conveniently measured and produced in uniform quality. Experimental work upon the process has been carried out from time to time, and since the installation in March, 1928, of a second generator more detailed research has been carried out upon the thermodynamics of the process. This work is regarded as of considerable importance in view of the small i amount of reliable information available on some aspects of the subject, and the fact that the reactions involved play a prominent part in nearly all processes of fuel utilisation. In congratulating the staff of 37 chemists, 15 engineers, 16 clerks, and 115 industrial workers on the success of their team work at Greenwich, Lord Parmoor said the station was the largest in the world dealing with fuel research. Referring to the large-scale experiment at Richmond in the low temperature carbonisation of coal, he pointed out that 40,000,000 tons of coal were annually used for domestic purposes in Great Britain, and that if a smokeless fuel could be obtained, our large towns would have a much purer atmosphere. Their work had also. shown that it was possible to provide the kind of coke needed by the metallurgical industries from coals other than those used in the past, which were not now so plentiful. Here, again, there was a large field for further experiment ,