46 



NATURE 



[March 15, 1917 



small steam-engines permit no unqualified state- 

 ment to that eftect ; but the less instinctive appre- 

 ciation of the chemical value latent in coal has 

 been a slow, and is still a stunted, grovi'th. Our 

 recent needs for benzene, toluene, and phenol for 

 the making of high explosives, and the publicity 

 given to the coal-tar dye question, have opened 

 many eyes to the value of carbonisation, apart 

 from its production of coke for our blast furnaces 

 and gas for our towns; but even now the iniquity 

 of the prevalent nitrogen waste passes almost un- 

 noticed. To regard coal always as a source of 

 available heat, tar, and nitrogen is a habit of 

 mind to cultivate ; consistent condemnation and 

 eventual eUmination of methods of use which offer 

 violent offence to that regard will follow. 



The particular directions which reform will take, 

 or ought to take, in the many uses to which coal 

 is put are less obvious than the urgent necessity 

 for reform. Carbonisation, with all its possible 

 variation of methods and results, demands a closer 

 systematic study on the small and large scale, in 

 laboratories suitably equipped and staffed and in 

 the works. Comparison of the results obtained by 

 Wheeler at home and by Pictet abroad with those 

 of ordinary coke-oven or gasworks practice shows 

 the extent to which the nature and quantity of 

 products are dominated by variation in conditions 

 of operation, and emphasises the necessity for a 

 thorough knowledge of the processes involved in 

 the transition from primary to secondary products 

 of carbonisation, with a view to their intelligent 

 control. 



The work of Bergius, although of uncertain 

 value on the industrial scale, touches upon 

 another possibility, that of carbonising under very 

 high pressure ; if successful, it would demand a 

 new type of plant, somewhat analogous to that 

 employed for the Haber synthetic-ammonia pro- 

 cess, and presenting new problems of construction 

 and working. At the other end of the scale 

 stands carbonisation with reduced pressure, 

 already under trial on a scale above that of the 

 laboratory. Less removed from current practice 

 In carbonisation are the low-temperature pro- 

 cesses, such as the Del Monte, and the presum- 

 ably improved form or development of the ill- 

 fated Coalite process, which, it is hoped, will 

 receive an adequate trial at Barugh. Several 

 questions await an answer from such processes. 

 It is conceded that they can produce tar rich in 

 low-boiling-point constituents, but are these con- 

 stituents to be mainly paraflfinbid, as certainly 

 seems probable, or aromatic, with benzene and 

 toluene? The ammonia yield is in question; 

 laboratory experiments indicate that a real begin- 

 ning is not made in forming ammonia from coal 

 by heating until a temperature of 500° C. is ex- 

 ceeded, and that 700° to 800° C. is necessary 

 for a yield which the standard carbonising prac- 

 tice would call good. Soft coke has undoubted 

 advantages for the open grate, but can it be 

 made for carrying in bulk without crushing? 

 These are some of the simpler issues. . 



As regards nitrogen, the Mond process, with 

 NO. 2472, VOL. 99] 



its 60 to 70 per cent, recovery as ammonia, is 

 satisfactory, but the gasification of coal in an air- 

 steam blast gives of necessity a gas too highly 

 diluted with nitrogen to be of any service for high- 

 temperature operations, excepting in large fur- 

 naces where regeneration can be employed. The 

 tar, too, has its peculiarities. Otherwise the 

 process is successful in practice, as it is sound in 

 principle, and all concerned with its initiation 

 are to be doubly congratulated, in the first place 

 on an extremely valuable contribution to the 

 science and practice of fuel utilisatioh^ and in the 

 second on the comparatively advanced stage to 

 which the working-out of the process had been 

 carried before it was declared ready for use. 



None of our methods of using fuel can be re- 

 garded as attaining the ideal, but the most dis- 

 turbing factor in the situation is that such 

 advances as we have made are not properly 

 utilised ; even to-day the great bulk of our 

 domestic heating is done with raw coal in the 

 open fire, and our great modern power-houses are 

 mainly run with raw coal in their boiler furnaces. 

 The pall of smoke over our cities signalises the 

 daily sacrifice. Then, again, our metallurgical in- 

 dustries, although using gaseous fuel largely in 

 regenerative open-hearth furnaces which do secure 

 thermal economy, still neglect and destroy the 

 chemical value of coal by gasifying without re- 

 covery of either tar or ammonia. 



The country was never so ready as now to 

 accept the application of a remedy for these evils, 

 but must first feel that before it lies a rational 

 treatment, based on a sane and sober diagnosis, 

 and not on the facile verbalism of ill-considered 

 propaganda. Some few simple prohibitions, auto- 

 matically progressive in their application, may be 

 found advisable, and, if so reasonable as to be 

 practicable, would probably be effective in check- 

 ing criminal waste, and at the same time en- 

 courage those developments in the technique of 

 fuel utilisation on which we miist depend ulti- 

 mately for success. 



There has been wanting sufficient systematic 

 attention to fuel problems from investigators, 

 administrators, and legislators alike. It is true 

 that, owing largely to the initiative and foresight 

 of Prof. Smithells, the University of Leeds (fol- 

 lowed more recently by the Imperial College in 

 London) has established a department of fuel 

 technology, and that the gas industry has gener- 

 ously endowed there the Livesev chair in memory 

 of a great leader ; but how long has the paramount 

 necessity for what were pioneering ventures a few 

 years ago been recognised, and how very much 

 more remains to be done before it can be claimed 

 that the subject of the scientific utilisation of fuel 

 is receiving anything like adequate study or the 

 same degree of public support as is accorded in 

 America and Germany. Committees are to the 

 fore just now, and the British Association has 

 appointed one, with Prof. Bone as chairman, for 

 the Investigation of fuel economy, the utilisation 

 of coal, and smoke prevention; this may be one 

 sign of an awakening. The terms of reference 



