BENZOLE

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1931, Page 2

BENZOLE

A GOOD FUEL, EXPERIENCE IN LONDON. Knowing that the absence of any excine duty on motor spirit lnauulaetured in tlio Dominion is essential to the success of any such undertaking, tile Christchurch Gas, Coal and Coke Company has not committed itself to tho project of manufacturing benzole from coal gas. The question in the House of Representatives was tabled with the idea of ascertaining whether the Government would guarantee that no excise duty would lie put on the loeallyiiiuiiu aetured article. A London firm has had an experimental plant working for about lour years, and as a result has ordered a plant to treat 76.000,000 cubic feet, of coal gas per day, according to Air K. AY. J. Helton, engineer to the Christchurch Gas Company. He states that during the Great AVer virtually all firms were extracting benzole from coal for explosives, hut alter the war this cost.lv process did not pay. However, a new process had been discovered, and this was opening up new possibilities. The article produced in England was a mixture of benzole and petrol in equal proportions, and was proving a very popular motor fuel. It brought a price Id per gallon dearer than ordinary petrol, hut about 16 per cent, more power could bgo obtained from it. Much Richer Than Petrol. Benzoic was very much richer than petrol, iiml the. ordinary carburetter could not he adjusted to consume it neat.. Air Helton states that for n.iuii'!y a. year In* has boon using in .his ear a mixture of benzole and petrol, with magnificent results. Benzole could not he used for boiler firing, for which crude or fuel oil was needed, hut was for only internal combustion engines such as those fitted to motor-cars and aeroplanes. If the industry were started in Xew Zealand, the article produced would not appreciably lower motor transport costs, hut would provide work for more men, and would, as far as tin.' Christchurch Company was concerned, mean the use of an extra 2000 tons of coal each year. That- would make for more work in the mines and more goods traffic on the railways. Ti'e recovery of benzole from gas dated hack nearly twenty years, and in England and the United States of America, where the manufacture of tar was on an enormous senile, benzole was extracted from tar. Extracted From Gas. If the plant, which involved a considerable outlay, were established in Christchurch, the coal gas would first he extracted from the coal and then the benzole from the coal gas. Coal gay was too rich to he sent out neat to consumers and was diluted with water gas. Coal gas from which benzole was extracted would, for use in the mains, require less dilution to bring it down to the proper burning strength.