PROBLEM OF FUEL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22629, 22 July 1935, Page 16

PROBLEM OF FUEL

RESEARCH IN BRITAIN PROPER USE OF COAL. In the long view the fuel problem is one of the fundamental factors which will control the future of Britain (says a writer in the Manchester Guardian). Unlike many countries, Britain is comparatively poor in sources of water power, whereas she is extremely rich in coal. The proper use of coal is therefore one of the most important problems before statesmen, and is worthy of the highest public interest. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research established a fuel research station at Greenwich after the war to study the problems of fuel economy that had been acute during the war years. The researches and the laboratories have grown an( ] the station is now a large organisation. The department rightly feels that it has something to show to the public, so it has established an annual visitation at which industrialists, scientists, and technicians may see its fuel research laboratories at work. The group of laboratories at Greenwhich is large, enough to allow a semiindustrial scale of research. Methods of preparing fuels and burning them are tested on a scale large enough to provide information of industrial value. For instance, the plant for investigating the problems of gas making consists of units of the same size a a those used in practice, though there are not so many of them as in a gasworks. Th efficiency of the retorts for roasting the gas out of coal is studied, also methods of increasing the flexibility of the operation of gasworks, so that thev can more efficiently meet the seasonal changes in demand for gas. About 8000 tons of coal are carbonised —that is, turned into some form of coke —in each year's experiments. DOMESTIC FIREGRATES. There is an interesting series of researches in progress on the use of fuels in firegrates of the type used in ordinary houses. Firegrates are placed in rooms specially built for experimental purposes. The experimenter can measure the amount of heat thrown out in various directions.

A fine example of a fire burning a coke produced by roasting coal at low temperature was exhibited. It burnt without smoke but with a considerable flame. It is possible to light a fire of this coke without firewood and with a few sticks it bums easily. The extraordinary amount of dirt produced by an ordinary open coal fire was shown?? by passing the smoke through a wool-lined flue. The deposit of soot on tiie wool from burning so little as 14lb of coal was most striking, though it weighed _6oz only. The dirtying power of soot is immense in comparison with its weight. PULVERISATION. The station is .engaged in a wide range of experiments on fuel for the raising of steam. The problems of pulverised coal are being investigated on a large scale. Besides testing various sorts of crusher* for pulverising the coal and burners for projecting it into the furnace, a comprehensive investigation of the suitability of the various sorts of British coal for pulverisation is being made.

A 6tuall experimental plant for producing oil from coal by hydrogenation is in opeiation. It produces, among other oils, a petrol of very high quality. The production of motor spirit is one object only of the investigation. It is hoped to find other uses for the oils, such as lubrication, but the technical difficulties of producing satisfactory lubricating oils from coal are great.

The station's work on the carbonising of coal at low temperatures is of great interest. Besides providing a smokeless domestic fuel, it yields a tar which can be turned into a motor fuel by hydrojjeiv ation. It is hoped that when operated together the two processes will be commercially successful. The commercial success of this scheme would be an important contribution to the purification of city atmospheres and to the home production of motor fueL