PAPERS OX GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 3S7 



small, are using 100^ Xo. 2 coal. These compauies get 

 1200 lbs. of coke and 10,000 en. ft. of gas per ton of coal 

 coked. 



The St. Lonis Coke and Chemical Co. at Granite City 

 are coking a mixtnre of 90^ No. 6 coal and lO'^'c Poca- 

 hontas. This Company nses the Roberts type of coke 

 oven, mentioned so favorably in the Iron age for March 

 2 and 9, 1922. They coke 1400 tons of coal per day with 

 a recovery of 68.14^ of the coal charged. As by-pro- 

 ducts they obtain 10,840 en. ft. of gas, 9 gallons of tar, 

 27 lbs. of ammouinm sulphate, and 3^2 gallons of light 

 oil per ton of coal. This company gets only 25c per 

 thousand for its gas, while the gas companies at Duquoin 

 and CentraJia get $1.85 per thousand. The coke brings 

 $7.50 per ton, a little more than the coke of the other 

 cities mentioned. Coke is the equivalent of the same 

 number of pounds of anthracite. It is cleaner and more 

 economical than raw coal. That produced at Granite 

 City is used for zinc and lead smelting, blast furnaces, 

 water gas. and household purposes. 



Mr. Farrar, of the Southern Illinois Gas Company at 

 Murphysboro, thinks most of the gas plants of the state 

 would use Illinois coal immediately if the State Utility 

 Commission would reduce the standard from 565 B. T. 

 U. to 500 B. T. U. per cubic foot, since with straight Illi- 

 nois coal it is diflScult to get a gas of the required stand- 

 ard. The gas companies, he thinks, would then create a 

 market for their gas-house coke through the educ-ation of 

 the people to its advantages. 



This seems to be the road to true elSeiency and conser- 

 vation. The coal should be coked near the mines, and 

 can be sold for use in bakeries, smelting, blast furnaces, 

 household uses, and perhaps for firing railroal engines.^' ^ 

 The gas produced can be sold to surrounding cities for 

 fuel, and used on the spot in gas engines to generate 

 electricity, for light and power. Electric energy may 

 also be used to transport the coke to places of consump- 

 tion through the use of the electrified railway, since trans- 

 mission is now possible over a distance of .500 miles with 

 slight loss. The lUmois Traction System reports a line 

 450 miles long in operation. Coking by means of the 



