SAVING BENZOL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 99, 5 April 1922, Page 7

SAVING BENZOL.

MOTOR FUEL FROM COAL.

NEW AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY.

Time and again attention has been directed to the incaluculable economic waste involved in existing methods of coal consumption and treatment in Australia. While other countries—notably Britain, France, and Germany —-have been exploiting the enormously valuable by-products of coal, useful alike in chemical, dyeing, and motor fuel industries, most Australian large scale users of coal have allowed these untold riches to “go up in smoke.” Wherever an outlay has been made on extraction plants at gasworks, however the by-products have yielded handsome returns. Ono of the most valuable of these derivaives —benzol—has been proved beyond cavil to yield as a motor fuel from 15 to 20 per cent, greater mileage than an equal quantity of pertol under similar conditions. Some time ago (says the Melbourne Age) it was authoritively estimated that 2,000,000 gallons of benzol were annually thrown away in the gas and coke industries of Australia,, and that estimate, ignoring other valuable derivatives, probably erred on the conservative side. Yet, owners of motor vehicles in this country are still presenting foreign manufacturers, overseas ship-owners, and innumerable cohorts of distributors, both at Home and abroad, with something like £4,000,000 a year for motor fuel supplies at over 3s a gallon retail. Great Britain already uses of 40,000,000 gallons of benzol as motor fuel every year. It was a veritable godsend to the Germans during the war, and it has not been neglected since, either there or in France, now possessed of the rich coalfields of Alsace-Lor-riane. Benzol itself is an interesting composite, consisting of benzine, toluene, and xylene, the raw materials of the great analyne dye industry and cleaning agents, while toluene is an important constituent of the explosive known at T.N.T., or tri-nitro-toluene. The Australian Gaslight Company of Sydney has for some time been recovering 'hmiqonium sulphate, benzol, liquid fuel motor spirit, toluene solvent naphha, crude naphathaline, and pyridene from distillation of tar, with eminently satisfactory financial results. Solvents of naphtha are used in the rubber industry; pyridene provides a denaturant for methylated spirit; naphthaline is used in making moth balls and certain insecticides wanted by furriers. The extraction of these chemicals from coal is done by a series of specialised process, carried out by means of coke ovens designed for the purpose. Briefly, it consists of heating the coal within these ovens to a temperature sufficient to liberate the gases, which are then impounded and separated, leaving the coke as residue.

A promising extension of this industry with tne primary object or providing an Australian suostiuuie for imported petrol, is now imminent. Extensive udauLions to the works of me Broken mil Proprietary Company (Limited), ot Newcastle., are approaching completion, ana. should maienails increase tne Australian output ot benzol thereby tending to reduce Australian dependence upon foreign manufacturers ot motor luel. Hitherto tar and sulphate of ammonia Have been the only by-product obtained from me coae ovens, and the new plant has been designed tor the recovery oi motor spirit and naphtha. The quantity of motor spirit imported to Australia—3b,UUU,UuU gallons or petrol, benzine, benzoline, gasoline and naphtha for the year ended 3Uth June last —is so great that the amount of benzol manufactured at Newcastle will be wholly required for the Australian market, to which tne company will devote its attention for the present. The new motor spirit,, which will be produced under the name of “benzol,” will be a mixture of benzol and toluene, in approximate proportions or 70 per cent, and 30 per cent, respectively. {Should quantities of toluene be required at any time for the production ot high explosives in Australia, it will be ot inestimable advantage to have a source of supply at hand, for the toluene can be separated from the benzol without impairing its value as motor spirit. Situated at the compan’s by-product coke ovens at Newcastle, these works are now practically completed,, and will shortly begin production. The products will also include solvent naphtha, which is used in the rubber and other similar industries, and as an admixture of certain paints.

Primarily, however, it is the company’s intention to produce from these works motor spirit for petrol-diriven vehicles, and among other uses for benzol is its addition to power alcohol in order to improve and stabilise that product. In England benzol is said to be sold at a higher price than petrol on the ground that its potency as a motor fuel is greater. At present it is not known at what price the company intends to market this product, but it is claimed that even if the retail price is the same as petrol, the commodity would be actually cheaper because of this property of giving greater service for an equal quantity.

As soon as a sufficiently large output for the purpose is available, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria intends to make exhaustive tests and comparisons ) with the new fuel. To obtain the maximum efficiency from benzol it may be necessary to make a slight adjustment of the carburetter to provide a weaker mixture, but even without such adjustment benzol gives every satisfaction in automobile engines. Therein it has an important advantage over power alcohol, which necessitates some alteration of the engine. i Necessarily, the future of this industry will be wrapped up with the general progress of the great steel works at Newcastle. It will grow with their growth. if the normal steel production and corresponding coke production be maintained,, and the present coke ovens continue running to their full capacity, it is anticipated that the output of benzol will reach one million gallons a year. Should the present disabilities under which the industry labours pass away, and Australian steel be produced at a price which enables it to bo sold in competition with Belgian, German, British and American steel by some fortunate adjustment of production costs, the steel works will inevitably enlarge and, pari passu the coke ovens and by-products extraction plant with them.