COAL-OIL MIXTURE

Grey River Argus, 13 August 1937, Page 6

COAL-OIL MIXTURE

FOR FUELLING SHIPS. After five years of experiments with a new fuel mixture of pulverised coal and crude oil, carried out by a Tyneside firm in conjunction with the Cunard Steamship Company, tests have now been completed. The new colloidal fuel may be adopted as the principal method of firing ships in the British Navy and the Mercantile Service. It is a mixture of 60 per cent, crude oil and 40 per cent, pulverised coal, and technically it gives the same results as oil fuel, althougn it is appreciably cheaper. The experiments have been carried out entirely by the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Coy., Ltd., and the Cunard Company, on various vessels of the Cunard Line, including the “Berengaria,” the , “Carinthia” and other-vessels. ■

The adoption of the new fuel by all oil-burning vessels in the British Navy and the Mercantile Fleet would, means an additional demand for tens of thouands of tons of coal each year. Consistently good results have been obtained from the experiments it is stated, and if the production of colloidal fuel in large quantities is undertaken il will mean a great deal to the coal industry in Britain.