March 2, 19 16] 



NATURE 



2\ 



dried peat. The total power capacity is -more than 

 3000 h.p., and the gas engines are coupled to alter- 

 nators running in parallel. The current, transmitted 

 at a tension of 30,000 volts, is distributed over an area 

 of about twenty-five miles' radius. 



If more rapid progress has not been made in solving 

 the problem in the United Kingdom, it must be re- 

 membered that in the manufacturing parts of England 

 coal is comparatively cheap, and owing to its greater 

 heating power is more suitable for producer gas than 

 is peat. In many parts of Ireland, however, coal is 

 ver\' dear, but (and to some extent because of this 

 fact) in these districts we have not at present in exist- 

 ence industries demanding power. The possibility of 

 securing cheap power would be a stimulus to industrial 

 development. 



Happil}-, a noteworthy step has been taken in the 

 wav of solving the problem by the action of Messrs. 



The gas, before passing to the engine, must be 

 purified, but the substances removed are valuable, 

 although the by-products of a small plant would not 



: justify treatment. There is nitrogen, which can be 

 recovered as ammonium sulphate, and also peat ash 

 and peat tar, containing valuable constituents. It is 

 not unreasonable to assume that with an extension 

 of this method of utilising peat, it would be possible 



' to deal in a profitable maimer with the by-products 

 which would thus be produced in a sufficient quantit\' 

 to allow of their being dealt with in chem- 

 ical works. We should in this way not only 

 establish an additional industn,', but this method of 

 obtaining power from peat would be rendered still 

 more profitable. 



It may be said that the conditions at Portadown 

 are favourable, in view of the neighbourhood of the 

 peat bog to the weaving factory, and it is undoubtedly 





£■?;;* «i*TirA^^. 



^ 'G. 2- — The first producer plant in the world making regularly producer gas and ammooium iUJphate frooi wet peat, coniaioing up 1075 per cent, of water. 



Hamilton Robb, of Portadown. This firm have in 

 Portadown a weaving industry, and a little more than 

 four years ago decided to try the experiment of estab- 

 lishing a (peat) producer gas plant. They accordingly 

 installed a suction gas plant constructed by Messrs. 

 Crossley Brothers, Ltd.. of Manchester, of a capacity 

 of 400 brake-horse-power. The fuel used is peat, and 

 this is cut from a bog some miles distant and dried in 

 the open air by the usual method of stacking. The 

 plant supplies gas to two engines, each of 120 b.h.p., 

 and one of 150 b.h.p. There are two producers, each 

 having a capacity of 200 b.h.p. By means of the con- 

 veyer the peat blocks are elevated and carried to the 

 feed hoppers on the top of the producers, from which 

 they pass into the generators, where gasification takes 

 place. It is stated that under working conditions, with 

 peat at 55. a ton, power can be obtained at the rate 

 of one-sixteenth of a penny per horse-power hour. 

 XO. 2418, VOL. 97] 



a ver\- great advantage to be able to avail of water 

 carriage from the bog to the factory. There are, 

 nevertheless, without doubt, many other places in Ire- 

 land where corresponding advantages could be found. 

 But even in their absence it seems certain that 

 peat could be profitably utilised on the lines indicated, 

 with one modification, though that is an important 

 one. Where a sufficient demand for power exists, it 

 appears certain that instead of carrying the bulky 

 p)eat either by road or by water, it would be advisable 

 to instal producer plant on the bog itself and to con- 

 vert the mechanical power into electricity-, and transmit 

 the energx- at high pressure to the point where it is 

 required. The eflSciency of such conversion and trans- 

 mission is now ven,- high, and the financial results of 

 such a mode of transmission can be ascertained with 

 a considerable degree of accuracv in anv case where 

 the conditions can be stated. 



