ALTERNATIVE TO PETROL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 10

ALTERNATIVE TO PETROL.

DISTILLED COAL PRODUCT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, September 26. Experiments are bein(t made by the Sensible Heat Distillation, Ltd., with a new fuel which promises to be an alternative to petrol in its application to traction and general propulsion purposes (says the Morning Post). This alternative fuel is a product obtained from British bituminous coal by a distillation treatment. It might be described as a synthetic charcoal, and when used in gas generators is said to produce a gas which, in an internal combustion engine, provides the motive power equally as well as petrol, and is safer. Tests over a considerable period with heavy road vehicles propelled by producer gas instead of petrol, in this country, and more particularly in France, it is claimed, have proved definitely and conclusively that gas made from synthetic charcoal is in every way as suitable as petrol. It is an economical fuel. It can be made and sold at a profit at a price which, when compared with petrol for equal power production, works out at only one-eighth to one-sixth of the cost of that commody, taking petrol at Is 2d a gallon. EASILY STORED. One of the objections in the early days to internal combustion engines worked on producer gas for road purposes was that the motor originally designed for petrol gave 10 to 15 per cent, less power when operating on gas. With properly designed engines and superchargers, a given sized engine producing 100 h.p. from petrol would, it is held, produce the same amount of power from gas at one-sixth to one-eighth of the fuel cost. In addition to being safe and economical, this new _ fuel can be handled and stored as easily as raw coal or coke.. Another important thing in its favour is that it is a home product.