164 



NATURE 



[October 7, 19 15 



The yields of the various bye-products obtainable 

 on such coke-oven installations naturally vary with 

 the locality and character of the coal seam ; but they 

 probably average somewhat as follows — expressed as 

 percentages on dry coal carbonised : — 



, . Benzol and toluol 



District ^'"',''tT'" T'*'-- a.sfini>hcd 



•""'P^^i^ products 



Durham ... 09 to 145 2-5 to 4-5 06 to 10 



Yorkshire ... 13 to 1-5 35 to 50 09 to i-i 



Derbyshire ... 1-3 to i -6 35 to 5-0 09 to 11 



Scotland ... 1-4 to i-6 35 to 50 09 to 11 



South Wales ... 09 to i-i 2-0 to 3-5 06 to 075 



Or, to put the matter a little differently, each ton of 

 dry coal carbonised yields from 20 to 35 lb. of am- 

 monium sulphate, from 56 to 112 lb. of tar, and from 

 2 to 3^ gallons of crude benzol, etc. — according to 

 the locality. About 65 to 70 per cent, of the crude 

 benzol is obtained as finished products — benzene, 

 toluene, solvent and heavy naphthas. 



How rapid has been the development of the bye- 

 product coking industry in this country during recent 

 years may be judged from the following oflficial returns 

 of the quantities of ammonium sulphate annually 

 made by such plants, as compared with the corre- 

 sponding quantities produced in gas-works. 



Ton< of ammonium sulphate produced in 



Year 



1903 

 1908 



Bye-product 



coke-oven 



plant. 



17.435 

 64,227 

 133,816 



Gas-works 



149,489 

 165,218 

 182,180 



In the natural course of events, the final disappear- 

 ance of the wasteful beehive coking-ovens from this 

 country is now only a matter of a few years ; but I 

 venture to suggest that public interest would justify 

 the Government fixing, by law, a reasonable time- 

 limit beyond which no beehive coke-oven would be 

 allowed to remain in operation, except by express 

 sanction of the State, and then only on special circum- 

 stances being proved. 



There is also much need of a better and more 

 systematic chemical control, in the public interest, of 

 bye-product coking plants. At present, in far too many 

 cases, the chemists employed in coke-oven laboratories 

 are men who have practically no chemical training 

 other than that obtained in evening classes. And, 

 with few exceptions, the chemist, however competent 

 he may be, is entirely subordinated to the directing 

 engineer, and regarded as a mere routine analyst. 

 I can say, from personal knowledge, that plants which 

 are managed and controlled by experienced chemists 

 of broad training, combined with force of character, 

 yield much better results than those which are con- 

 trolled by men without such qualifications. 



And even in this crisis when so much depends on 

 plants working, not only at their maximum output 

 capacities, but also, chemically speaking, under con- 

 ditions calculated to ensure the highest yields of benzol 

 and toluol, with a proper selection of coal, I doubt 

 whether the measures which have been taken to 

 advise and supervise the coke-oven industry are really 

 adequate from the point of view of chemical control. 

 I do know, for instance, that the experience and re- 

 sources of the majority of our university departments 

 of applied chemistry which specialise on fuel tech- 

 nology and cognate matters have not been as fully 

 utilised as they might have been in this connection. 

 I cannot for one moment imagine a similar state of 

 things being permitted in Germany, where we may 



NO-. 2397, VOL. 96] 



be sure that nothing is being left undone in the way 

 of fully utilising all the available expert chemical and 

 engineering knowledge which can be brought to bear 

 on this important aspect of war munitions ; and I 

 venture to say that, whatever may be the case in this 

 country, in Germany at least the staff and resources 

 of no publicly maintained department of fuel tech- 

 nology will not be fully employed on war problems. 



The coal-gas industry, which deals with some 

 twenty million tons of coal per annum, has, especi- 

 ally within recent years, shown a growing apprecia- 

 tion of the aid of chemical science, in regard not only 

 to the actual manufacture, but also to the domestic 

 and industrial uses of coal gas. The endowment by 

 the industry, in 19 10, of a special chair at the Leeds 

 University, in memory of the late Sir George Livesey 

 (of which I had the honour and pleasure of being the 

 first occupant), was a sure sign of the faith of its 

 leaders in the value of scientific research into its 

 special problems; and, from personal knowledge and 

 intercourse with gas engineers, I can assure my 

 chemical colleagues that any serious interest taken by 

 scientific chemists in these problems, or in training 

 men to tackle them, will be welcomed by the indus- 

 try, no matter from what quarter such help or interest 

 may come. For although the carbonisation of coal 

 in gasworks is efficiently carried out, no one in the 

 industry supposes that finality has been reached, or 

 that existing methods and conditions cannot be 

 improved under better chemical control. 



And, moreover, the gas industry has just recently 

 given a striking example of the public benefit which 

 may accrue from the whole-hearted co-operation of 

 the chemist and engineer in the new nickel-catalytic 

 process for the removal of carbon bisulphide from 

 coal gas, which has been worked out, and brought to 

 a successful issue, by the combined skill and efforts 

 of Mr. Charles Carpenter, Mr. W. Doig Gibb, and 

 Mr. E. V. Evans, of the South Metropolitan Gas 

 Company. They have shown that the sulphur con- 

 tent (as CSo) of London coal gas can be reduced on 

 a large scale, In regular day-to-day working, from 

 nearly 40 to about 8 grains per 100 cubic ft., with- 

 out in any way deteriorating the quality of the gas, 

 at a cost (Including interest and depreciation) of 

 o-29gd. per 1000 cubic ft. Such a striking success 

 was, as Mr. Carpenter acknowledges, only achieved 

 "because of the unrestricted and unreserved collabora- 

 tion of the chemist and the engineer." Incidentally, 

 the gas industry is to be congratulated on this tacit 

 abandonment of the old contention that coal gas was 

 either none the worse for the presence in it of a 

 certain amount of sulphur compound, or (alterna- 

 tively), if worse, that a minute amount of sulphur 

 dioxide in the atmosphere of a living room Is so 

 rapidly absorbed by the ceiling that its harmful 

 effects are nullified. 



As the outcome largely of the work of the Joint 

 Committee appointed in 1907 by the Institution of 

 Gas Engineers and the University of Leeds (of which 

 I was a member) to investigate gas-fire problems, the 

 manufacturers of these appliances have paid much 

 more attention than formerly to the scientific aspects of 

 construction, so far as to ensure the best combination 

 of radiant and ventilating effects, and nearly all the 

 larger firms have now their scientific staffs busily 

 employed In making further advances. Prominent 

 among the pioneers in scientific gas-fire construction 

 has been Mr. H. James Yates, who will to-morrow 

 enlighten you as to some of the most recent improve- 

 ments. I can, however, from personal knowledge 

 testify to the enterprise shown by most of the lead- 

 ing manufacturers, and that their combined efforts 

 have resulted in a very efficient and perfectly hygienic 



