PULVERISED FUEL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 14

PULVERISED FUEL.

THE HORORATA. HOPE FOR THE COAL INDUSTRY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 5. In a letter to The Times Captain William Onyon, R.N. (retired), late president of the Institution of Marine Engineers, refers to the New Zealand Shipping Company’s Hororata, which by this time will be in New Zealand waters. “This vessel,” he says, “I venture to predict, is destined to make history, and, it is confidently hoped, will help to save the coal industry in this country. Three of her six boilers have been altered, and pulverised fuel of good quality is being used, the coal supplied being _ in all respects similar to that supplied for hand-firing in her three remaining boilers. /

“ The problem of efficiently burning pulverised I fuel has now, in my opinion, been solved, and the results are due principally to the clever method of supplying air with the Buell burner, adopted by • the owners and Messrs ' Green and Sillcy_Weir, in collaboration with Messrs James Howdeu and Co., of Scotland, the world-famed forced-draught experts. The ‘lay ont ? of the-plant in this ship can undoubtedly be improved upon and space saved. At present a cross-bunker which held 200 tons of coal has been appropriated for the pulverizers and plant. “It is an undoubted fact that the supply of coal to furnaces in the method here adopted is quite safe and far more economical than with hand-firing, even if we had not lost the art of handfiring as brought to perfection in the British Navy in pre-oil fuel days. Pulverised fuel does not lend itself to and cannot be expected to supersede oil in fast warships, but for the great majority of mercantile ships it is ideal, and will in the near future be universally adopted. The crushing and pulverising of the coal for ship use must it is considered, be carried out afloat, and not before it is supplied to the ship. The coal must be of fairly good quality, as in the case of the Hororata. If all shipowners will carefully study this new method in conjunction with high-pressure steam, I feel sure that, in a few years’ time our coal industry' will, once again be- put on a. firm basis. If Government help is necessary it should he forthcoming.”