MOTOR FUEL FROM COAL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 30 April 1927, Page 20

MOTOR FUEL FROM COAL

INTOE-NTQR TELkS OF PEOCES>S,

A mortprised Europe, in spite of, the icareityrof oil wells, and the consequent high priiee. c*f "gas *'• on that Continent, is hel4.;<jdta» a possibility as the result of researches <m processes for making-a-praetieabla m»tw;;fnel out of aoft coal, . "which bsiye teca going on for nearly a quarter josf a'-eentury in -Germany- and fa-ance;: ■■Professor Franz Fischer';- director of the Institute of Coal' Research; Muelheinj-Buhr, Germany, a leader in the aeardh. for a practicable synthetic motor fuei, spoke at Pittsburg .on 17th Novembejs, before the meeting of the Jnternaticeial Conference on Bituminous Coa!,-telling of the petroleum-like duct* he has been, able to obtain by subjecting, water-gas to pressure and moocrtte Ijemperaiure, in the presence of finely.d^tded iron or cobalt. '■■■,■ '■'•'■ . ■ Prof essort Fischer (says "Science Ser--vise").uses asr- raw material the same nurture "of hydrogen and carbon monoxide familiar i» this country as a part of imost city'gas, under the'name* of "water-gas. 1! 5 This is made by passing Bteam over glowing coke. , The gas mixture thus'; produced! has high fuel value, but eafinot be reduced to liquid form except at extremely low temperature,. How to build those small molecule*into larger ones, which would be Kquiii instead (Of a. gas at ordinary temperature, ,paA Still,be useful as an en«me:fuelv waa/,the...problein confronting .'., jhe investigator. V ; ■•-. ■ H« solved it by the -use <xf what the |ft«n*tsti 'calls- catalyzers, that is,* subftaaees which in some manner as yet tot nnderstpod q-Qeed up chemical reac»on«/Without thwmgelves entering into Jne.v^onipounds-. Vrhich they call "into EfL^V f ll ■'thi««!i»»« Professor- Fischer»ed finely diviada cobalt and iron; an & te*111™!I**^, he Bala, had used S»e allied toetal; jiickol. With these -nenueal middleman present/and W n«aipde»tely hij* pressures and some *. [•«, he^ fau obtrtinea three different ■Jawes or compounds. • ! ■ towture of about » score . of. inflam-j taable compounds, including a number $»e_the h lg her alcohols, ketones, andl 2?^-J*?- el- -?? •*«"»&■ acids and S^^.VV.^.. consiaerab^ "*!i he has heen.al^e to obtain a see-: ona product, metha?wl, which is pure i Wftthetie.wood »lcottoL Other investi--s&* f -ha r? "Waißedmethanol; but tho«gh^t^ highly wseful in the arts tn 1 I?. dMt »«'» « :i» less . value as a 'I «• a*^ *^ c Pefaoledm-like products &&■ P^?^"^^" mwt recent fer.obtained,-!. of the. nature of an arti%£s^*®**: WW°h W&Ms high fuel Jtif I***!;^" b **° been, earned Cal t BCale ' "ndit has been wM? o S^w ;ln eonuneasial quantities, »aS *£ c^ c by-I*»ducts fc find"

>5, From Various Sources . «*