GAS FROM CHARCOAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 14 April 1939, Page 10

GAS FROM CHARCOAL

PETROL SUBSTITUTE USE IN MOTOR VEHICLES j POSSIBILITIES IN WAR SYDNEY, 31st March. The possibility of using producer gas j from charcoal to operate motor vehicles j in wartime emergency has been widely j canvassed in recent weeks, and the sub - j ject is now to be officially investigated, j It is recognised that one of the most vulnerable points of Australia’s defence | is the cutting-off of her petrol supplies: in time of war. The Federal Ministry has asked the Commonwealth Fuel Advisory Board to conduct the investigation. Members of the Ministry envisage the possibility of equipping with producer gas plants! many vehicles, such as large army lorries, making short journeys, and employed on secondary services. The use of producer gas might also be adapted to enable private and commercial vehicles to be operated. An effective method of employing producer gas in this way would greatly reduce the demand on the available supplies of petrol, which would be needed for aircraft, high speed motor vehicles, and other units.

Since the Great War, European countries which have reason to fear a petrol shortage in war have been experimenting with producer gas, hoping to develop a design of apparatus which can be applied quickly and cheaply to motor-cars. The object aimed at is to bum the charcoal in a small furnace so that carbon monoxide gas is drawn from it. When this is mixed with hydrogen, a combustible gas is obtained! which can be fired in the cylinders of! an internal combustion engine in the same manner as the mixture from pet- ; rol and air. Producer gas plants have disadvantages which prevent their use in normal circumstances. The plant is large, heavy and fairly costly, and the power available from the gas produced is not nearly equal to that from petrol. Professor A. H. Burstall, of Melbourne University, professor of engineering, recently suggested that charcoal from the bushflre areas in Victoria should be collected for use as fuel for motor vehicles in war.

Following the successful conver- t sion by Melbourne University engineer- t ing students of a 15cwt truck to run on , charcoal gas. Professor Burstall believes [ that any vehicle can simply be changed t to run on charcoal fuel. All that is ] required, he says, is to have a producer | fitter, enabling the car to run on either , petrol or gas, as required. Journeys of , from 125 to 150 miles can be made without replenishing the producer, and about 91b or 101 b of charcoal per horsepower hour is the usual consumption. Though less power is delivered by the producer gas than by petrol. Professor Burstall, on a recent run with the truck, from Melbourne to Canberra, was able to maintain a steady 50 miles an hour on several sections of the run, and at times he even touched 60. Its chief advantage is its economy. At the present ruling price of petrol, he says, its cost is exactly one-third of that of petrol-using vehicles.