OIL FROM COAL

Evening Post, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 3

OIL FROM COAL

There are now many methods of splitting up raw coal into- oil and byproducts, and scientists are' b.usy devising still more, in the hope of finding the perfect process. Reviewing the stage already reached, the December Bulletin of Uio "British Department 'of Overseas Trade says:—"ln- many cases they have been successful in small" experimental plants, without convincing the experts ..that they would meet all requirements in large-scale production over long periods of time. At one time it seemed as if the cheapness of the natural oil and spirit would discourage further efforts to discover a method of producing an ideal synthetic product, but the present Government's subsidy of 4d a gallon was a new incentive to further effort. The Imperial Chemical Industries spent £1,000,000 on new plant, and other companies also engaged in further experiment. One of the latest and most important methods is that recently reported, of the Cannock process, which makes use of radiant heat for breaking up a mixture of coal and tar. It has the merit of simplicity. A staff of five men are now handling 150 tons of coal a day, and producing by the Cannock method fifteen gallons of spirit and fifteen hundredweight of smokeless fuel from each ton. A famous motorist and a famous airman have each testified to the excellent quality of the spirit produced, and well-known scientists have admitted that the Cannock. plant does what is claimed for it. Professor Julian Huxley Btarted his investigations of the new method in a spirit of complete scepticism. "I felt it was too good to be true," he said of the claim made for the'Cannock process; but he had to admit later that he believed it was true.