24 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



of work. Besides, a few accessory facts must be given, 

 since these are essential to a fair appreciation of the rela- 

 tion such an investigation may bear to present-day ten- 

 dencies in the industries. 



Let us assume then, and we are ready to affirm from the 

 purely scientific standpoint be it understood, that we can 

 produce from Illinois coal a new type of fuel having the 

 following characteristics : — It is of uniform texture ; of 

 good density and of ample strength to withstand hand- 

 ling and shipping, even, as we believe, of sufficient 

 strength to sustain the burden and meet the require- 

 ments of blast furnace practice, though our original pur- 

 pose and effort had in mind primarily the development 

 of a domestic fuel. It has in its composition a definite 

 amount of combustible matter which at red heat will as- 

 sume the volatile form, hence, in combustion it burns with 

 a flame though the flame is entitrely without smoke. The 

 volatile matter thus referred to and amounting to from 

 8 to 12 per cent is a feature of very great importance, 

 since because of it the necessity of special draft regula- 

 tion is obviated. That is to say, the material will burn 

 under the same draft conditions as are required for coal. 

 If the draft is closed, the fire is still kept alive by reason 

 of the availability of the volatile matter. This same con- 

 dition exists in the case of the anthracite coal, though 

 to a less degree, since the average anthracite has only 

 about four per cent or one-half as great an amount of 

 volatile matter. 



In the making of it, there is produced per ton from the 

 average Illinois coal approximately 20 gallons of oil, 

 6,000 cu. ft. of very high grade gas with an average heat 

 value of about 700 units per cubic foot and 25 to 30 

 pounds of ammonium sulphate. 



The statement of the problem is as simple as it is diffi- 

 cult of accomplishment: The decomposition of coal 

 which begins at about 250° C delivers between that point 

 and approximately 750° C all of those heavy volatile con- 

 stituents which are condensible into tars and oils and 

 which are difficultly combustible under the ordinary con- 

 ditions of draft and temperature, hence wholly respon- 



