OIL FROM COAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1933, Page 9

OIL FROM COAL

AN ADMIRALTY CONTRACT. LONDON, February 16. By placing this week a contract with Low Temperature Carbonisation, Ltd., for twelve months’ bulk supplies of oil made from British coal, the Admiralty has taken the initial step towards a goal that has Jong been visualised—the restriction of petroleum imports from foreign Sources, and the ultimate independence ot the British Navy in the vital sphere ot fuel. Moreover, the order, which is the til st of its kind, marks the notable progress that has been made in recent years by an industry upon which vast sums have been lavished in an etl" deavour to make it economic and competitive. The contract is for a. period ot twelve mouths, but as the quantity of oil to be supplied, and the price to be paid ior it are not known —although it must be admitted that the Admiralty seldom imparts information of this kind—the venture should perhaps be regarded purely as an experiment. Nevertheless, it is based on at least two years of secret research and trial on land and sea, conducted by Low Temperature Carbonisation, Ltd., iu co-operation with the Admiralty Engineering and Chemical Departments, with the object of standardising a fuel distilled from British coal which would fulfil tbo exacting requirements of modern naval vessels. Some time last year a final specification of coalite oil fuel was perfected, and on December 5 the first bulk consignment was delivered to the Admiralty for H.M.S. Westminster. According to a statement issued after- the trials 1 , the cruising radius of the vessel, which had hitherto used ordinary petroleum oil, was actually increased by the new oil —a feature of admitted importance in naval strategy.

Coalite oil-fuel, which is manufactured commercially as a by-product in the production of smokeless fuel, can new be supplied, it is said, at a price which compares favourably with standard prices charged round the coast lor first-class bunker petroleum oil, and at a figure below prices which have been obtained’ during the past few years. Among its technical advantages, the new fuel leaves no sediment or deposits, is highly fluid, and requires no pre-heating. Little wonder, therefore, that it is confidently predicted by experts that if the smokeless fuel industry and its allied industry of producing oil from coal develop normally, as they have been doing for at least three years, the day is not far distant when the British Navy will be able to rely exclusively on British sources for the whole of its fuel oil supplies. In the past ten years foreign oil of all kinds has been imported to the extent of over £700,000,000- On the other hand, coal exports to pay for them are now on the basis of around £350,000,000 in a ten-year period. Befor.e the war imports of oil on the same basis were around £160,000,000, and the exports of coal about £780,900,000.

These figures go far to explain the nation’s unfavourable balance of trade.

In the past 30 years over £50,000,000 has been lost in processes of obtaining oil from coal, but the new development gives some ground for the hope that the period of heavy losses may be at an end.