342 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



ILLINOIS COAL AS A SOURCE OF SMOKELESS 



FUEL 



S. W. Pake, University of Illinois 



Until recent years the topic of coke and its production 

 carried with it in America substantially no accessory 

 thought or idea except the simple one of metallurgy, and 

 to all intents and purposes coke in its original signifi- 

 cance meant pig iron. Indeed, in a general way we meas- 

 ured our coke production in terms of pig iron, pound for 

 pound. A ton of coke meant a ton of iron, or a ton of 

 iron meant a ton of coke. 



Recently, however, we have had somewhat rudely 

 thrust upon us a number of related subjects such as tar 

 and toluene, dyes and drugs, synthetics without number, 

 some with notable and some with ignoble propensities, 

 and then still more recently fuels — fuels of the fuel oil 

 type, fuels of the motor spirit type and perhaps, most 

 interesting of all, fuels of the gas type, in which there is 

 neither ash nor clinker, neither smoke nor soot, until, 

 possibly because the wish is father to the thought, we 

 imagine we can catch occasional visions of fuel gas as 

 the predominating feature, and drugs and dyes and tars 

 and even coke itself as merely by-products in the process 

 of gas manufacture. It is a fascinating program and 

 indeed one not without a very considerable amount of 

 logical environment. So if there is reason in it with the 

 premises fairly grounded in scientific fact, we may per- 

 chance be headed for ''Spotless Town" without our 

 really knowing it. Evidence toward this end may be 

 somewhat scant or lacking or even possibly of a negative 

 sort. If, perchance, there is any virtue in the old saying 

 that it is darkest just before daylight, then a cursory 

 glance at window sills and curtains and draperies will 

 justify us in thinking that from the standpoint of the old 

 adage at least, the daylight must be pretty close at hand. 

 However, of a somewhat more positive character we 

 may note that the American Gas Association has a stand- 

 ing committee on the Complete Gasification of Coal, and 



