BURNING POWDERED COAL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 October 1922, Page 2

BURNING POWDERED COAL

DRAWBACKS OVERCOME

Great interest has been taken during recent years in the use of coal in the form of powder. There is general agreement that such a fuel can be used ,to great advantage in many cases, but that the cost and other drawbacks of having to pulverise the coal may more than outweigh the benefits of using fuel in the powdered form. The plant is expensive and the powdered coal cannot be stored without danger. These drawbacks are, however, avoided by the use of a new machine designed and manufactured by a British firm. This machine is self-contained, and it dries and powders the coal and propels it direct into the furnace, so that there is no need to store the powdered coal or to install plant to carry it from the grinder to the furnace. The machine works continuously, and it dries and pulverises it at the same time. All that an operator has to do is to feed it with coal. Tests of a most practical character ' have been carried out on this machine for a period of twelve months, and they showed that the cost of pulverisation was about 2s 7d per ton, as against previous costs ranging from about 5s to 10s per ton. The tests also showed that a low«r grade of coal can be successfully used with this pulveriser. The latest development in connection with the plant lies in the addition of a small amount of paraffin to the coal during pulverisation. Although the amount added is very small it has a remarkable effect when using coal of poor quality.