October 7, 191 5] 



NATURE 



163 



Gaseous Combustion at High Pressures," recently 

 published in extenso in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, A, 

 vol. ccxv. (1915), pp. 275 to 318.) 



Fuel Economy and the Proper Utilisation of Coal. 



Leaving now the scientific aspects of flame and 

 combustion, I wish to say a few words as a techno- 

 logist upon the great national importance of a more 

 adequate scientific control of fuel consumption and the 

 utilisation of coal generally, with special reference to 

 the situation created by this terrible and ruinous Euro- 

 pean conflict, .^nd my remarks will be addressed in 

 part to my chemical friends and colleagues, who are 

 ])rimarily interested in scientific research and its in- 

 dustrial applications, and in part also to the com- 

 mercial and manufacturing community which is chiefly 

 interested in the financial results of such scientific 

 activity. 



Notwithstanding the fact that we are raising 

 annually in the United Kingdom — according to the 

 official estimate for 1913 — 287 million tons of coal, of 

 which 189 million tons (or, say, 4 tons per head of 

 the population) were consumed at home, more or less 

 wastefully, it is indeed surprising how little has been 

 done, or is being done, by the scientific community 

 to impress upon the Government and the public gener- 

 ally the importance of establishing some systematic 

 < ontrol or investigation of fuel consumptions in all 

 large industrial areas. Deputations have waited upon 

 the Government about the question of reviving our 

 languishing coal-tar colour industry ; so that in future 

 we may be independent of Germany for the supply of 

 the 2,ooo,oooZ. of dye-stuffs required by our textile in- 

 dustries ; and already a State-aided organisation, with 

 an advisory scientific committee, has sprung into exist- 

 . nee to achieve this desirable result. But no organised 

 body of men of science, so far as I know, has ever 

 thought it important, or worth while, to take an active 

 interest in the vastly greater subject of fuel economy 

 and the proper utilisation of coal, upon which the 

 dyeing industry depends for its raw material. 



It is unnecessary for me to remind you that the 

 contending armies in this Armageddon of the nations 

 depend upon certain distillation products of coal for 

 their supplies of high explosives ; and there is little 

 doubt in my mind but that Germany's violation of the 

 neutrality of Belgium, and her subsequent seizure of 

 that country and of a large tract of northern France, 

 had more than a purely political or strategic signifi- 

 cance. She, doubtless, wanted also to seize for herself 

 (and at the same time to deprive her enemies of) coal- 

 fields lying just beyond her own borders, which are 

 I apable of furnishing abundant supplies of coal admir- 

 ably adapted for yielding the raw materials for the 

 manufacture of high explosives. A country in which 

 ;dl metallurgical coke has for years past been manu- 

 factured under chemical supervision in bye-product 

 coking-ovens, with recovery of ammonia, tar, and 

 benzol, and in which the wasteful beehive coking-ovens 

 have long ago ceased to exist, was scarcely likely to 

 overlook the military importance of the Belgian coal- 

 field with its many bye-product coking-plants. And, 

 moreover, but for German commercial acumen and 

 « nterprise, during many years past, our own bye- 

 I)roduct industry would not have attained even to its 

 present respectable dimensions. Certainly it owes very 

 little to the interest or attention of British chemists, 

 most of whom are, unfortunately, but little aware of 

 its circumstances and conditions, and seem to care even 

 less for its particular problems. And yet, in proportion 

 to the capital outlaid upon it, it is one of the most 

 profitable of all our chemical industries, coal-tar colours 

 not excepted. 



Fuel economy, and the proper utilisation of coal, 



NO. 2397, VOL. 96] 



whether in connection with manufacturing operations , 

 or domestic heating, will become one of the most 

 important national questions during the trying years 

 that will follow hard upon this war, because of all 

 directions in which national economy can be most 

 healthfully and advantageously exercised, this is per- 

 haps the most obvious and prolific. For it is tolerably j 

 certain that, with an efficient and systematic public 

 supervision of fuel consumption, we ought to be able, ^ 

 even with existing appliances, to save many millions i 

 of pounds of our annual coal bill, and with improved i 

 appliances still more millions — a saving which would 

 in the long run redeem a considerable amount of the ] 

 war loan which has been much more easily raised than 

 it will be repaid. 



Now, I fear that not only are chemists for the most ' 



part lamentably ignorant of the nature of coal, and of ; 



modern fuel technology, but they have been for many J 



years past so indifferent about such questions that they I 



have been content to leave them almost entirely to ! 



engineers, who, as a body, are notoriously deficient in i 



chemical sense and experience. The engineer has, ' 



indeed, not usurped the place of the chemist, but has * 



had to do his best to fill the position long since abdi- ] 

 cated by the chemist. 



This, "indeed, seems strange when we remember that I 



the foundations of modern chemistry were deeply laid '. 



by investigators who were, above all things, "fire- ! 



worshippers." But, judging from most chemical i 

 text-books, nearly all that the modern student of 

 chemistry is taught in our academies about com- 

 bustion was known to Lavoisier; and I question 

 whether in the majority of our university laboratories 



any investigation on coal or combustion is ever under- , 

 taken. And yet the subject is full of most fascinating 

 and fundamental theoretical problems— for the most 



part unsolved — and the nation consumes every week as ] 

 much coal as could be exchanged for the whole 



quantity of aniline dyes used by its textile industries \ 



in a year. : 



Moreover, such advances as have been made during 



recent years — and they are by no means inconsider- I 



able — have nearly all been in the direction of the i 



wider applications of gaseous fuels. Yet in how many | 



of our university laboratories is even gas analysis j 



taught, or how many of our schools of chemistry ^ 

 provide systematic courses in the chemistry _ and 

 manipulation of gases, without which no professional 



training of industrial chemists, however much "re- ! 



search work " it may include, ought to be considered 1 



satisfactory? It is my opinion that this important ■ 



branch of our chemical craft and science has not, for , 



many years past, been accorded its proper place and ; 



share of attention in the ordinary curriculum of the \ 



majority of our academic institutions. j 



Of the 189 million tons of coal consumed in the ^ 

 United Kingdom in the year 19 13, about 40 million 



tons, or, say, approximately one-fifth of the whole, : 



were carbonised either in gas works, primarily for 1 



the manufacture of towns' gas, or in coke-ovens for | 



the manufacture of metallurgical coke — in practically j 



equal proportions. Two-thirds of the latter was car- "< 



bonised in bye-product recovery plants; the remainder 1 



in the old wasteful beehive ovens. So that, roughly ' 



speaking, we have — ; 



Total coal cirbonised=4o million tons 



In gas-works 



In bye-product 

 coke ovens 



In beehive 

 coke ovens 



6-5 



At present there are 8297 bye-product coke-ovens 

 built in this country, of which 6678 are fitted with 

 benzol recovery arrangements, capable of producing 

 something like 10 million tons of coke per annum. 



