>AS 



ON PEAT AND OTHER VEGETABLE CHARCOAL AND SOME OF ITS USES. 



[1855. 



with the eftrtliy matters of the ore, and thus forms an ingredient of the 

 sla". If from any unforeseen circumstance our supplies of foreign 

 iron should cease, our steel and cutlery manufacturers would be driven 

 to great extremity, and this branch of British industry, of world-wide 

 reputation, would be in danger of considerable derangement. 



There are other branches of manufacture dependent on charcoal for 

 their success : — gunpowder and tin-plates ; it is also largely used by 

 founders and engineers, and more recently it has been used as a deodo- 

 riser, disinfecter, and decolorisei', and also as a manure. 



A cursory glance at the position and limited surface of England, with 

 its dense and increasing population, will be sufficient to convince us 

 that space cannot be spared for the growth of timber for fuel ; this 

 will be still more evident, if we consider for a moment the consumption 

 of coals in the metropolitan district for the year 1854, which amounted 

 to 3,400,000 tons. The quantity of wood necessary to produce charcoal 

 of equal heating power, would exceed 400,000,000 cubic feet. If we 

 add to the quantity required for London, the quantity required for the 

 consumption of the country and for exportation, we shall find that the 

 entire surface of Great Britain woirld be inadequate to grow timber 

 sulficient to manufacture charcoal of equal heating power. Whilst this 

 is undoubtedly the case, and with an ever-increasing demand for fuel, 

 attention has been directed to the boffs of the United Kingdom, as offer- 

 ing an exhaustless mass of organic matter, ready to be converted by 

 the hand of science into fuel of first-rate quality, eminently suited for 

 most of our manufacturing and domestic purposes. 



The extent of bog land in Ireland alone exceeds 3,000,000 acres in 

 surface, in many localities ascertained to be of a depth of 80 feet and 

 upwards. 



It is well known that peat charcoal, when employed as fuel for 

 smelting iron, and tempering edge tools, &c., has produced articles of 

 surpassing excellence ; it is largely used on the Continent in smelting 

 works, and for domestic purposes. 



Peat is vegetable matter undergoing partial decomposition, and 

 probably its formation commenced at a very remote period of the 

 world's history. It is found in natural basins, formed by the inequal- 

 ities of the earth's surface, wherein the water is dammed up and pre- 

 vented from flowing into acljacent streams and rivers. In these lakes, 

 vegetable matter has accumulated and is undergoing various changes, 

 and final decomposition. In the earlier deposits it is characterized by 

 a nearly homogeneous structure ; but the later and more superficial 

 deposits present a less decomposed, and compacted character, and has 

 the general appearance of an entangled or felted structure, composed 

 of partially decomposed moss and grass, and not unfrequently of shrubs 

 and trees ; the moss and grass have the appearance of gradual and 

 successive decomposition at the roots, whilst they continue a vigorous 

 vegetation at the surface. 



The entire mass, both of the more compact and the less solid peat, is 

 composed chiefly of ligneous matter, and may be considered as anala- 

 gous to woody fibre ; its quality, however, is frequently afiected by the 

 special circumstances of locality. The best samples we have met with 

 have contained, when dried, about 70 to 75 per cent, of carbon, but 

 other samples were contaminated with earthy matters to the extent of 

 5 to 10 per cent., and we have found some samples of peat charcoal 

 yielding 94 per cent, of fuel. 



The attention of the scientific world is now fully awakened to the 

 importance of rendering this vast soui'ce of wealth available ; not that 

 the coal fields of Great Britain are likely soon to be exhausted, notwith- 

 standing the millions upon millions of tons raised annually, but as a 

 matter of economy in the race of the arts, manufactures, and civiliza- 

 tion, it is of first importance to get the greatest possible amount of 

 good at the lowest possible cost. What, then, is the present state of 

 the fuel market? The demand for coke and coals for locomotives, for 

 marine engines, for exportation and other purposes, is so enormous, 

 that the price has been raised to such an extent as to threaten the 

 destruction of extensive industrial operations carried on on the Tyne 

 and in other coal districts. Immense quantities of coke are being 

 sent to the extremities of Great Britian and Ireland, for working the 

 locomotives of the railways, whilst many of the lines traverse vast 

 tracts of bog, capable of being made into fuel, equal in value to coke, 

 and, in such localities, at a third of its cost. 



There is another remarkable feature which may be noticed. Iron- 

 stone is at this moment being raised in the immediate vicinity of depo- 

 sits of peat, but in the absence of any economical carbonising process, 

 to render it fit for smelting iron, the ore has to be sent to smelting 

 works, at a considerable charge for carriage. It is a remarkable fact 

 that iron-stone is found constantly occurring in the vicinity of deposits 



of peat, and when once this treasure is brought fairly to bear, we may 

 anticipate the production of iron of the finest quality. 



It may be truly affirmed of Ireland that she contains within her 

 borders all the raw material, except cheapness, to make her a worthy 

 competitor of Great Britain as a manufacturing country ; and if once 

 a cheap and practical method be devised of rendering the peat into 

 good charcoal, I can see no end to the prosperity of that country, — 

 abounding, as it does, in rich deposits of iron, copper, lead, and sulphur 

 ores in unlimited quantities, together with rock salt, clay, limestone, 

 slates and granite, ha\'ing also fine lakes and rivers, the rude materials 

 that form the foundation of a nation's greatness as a manufacturing 

 people. In addition to the mineral deposits, Ireland possesses in her 

 hardy sons the bone and muscle and the energy necessary to raise her 

 to the first rank as a manufacturing nation ; and I do not despair of 

 seeing the peat-bog in course of transformation into charcoal, and her 

 idle population become industrious and prosperous manufacturers. I 

 venture to predict, that when the manufacturing capabilities of that 

 country, so rich in native, and at present unappreciated materials, 

 become fully known, capital will flow readily to her aid. But as long 

 as Irish manufacturers have to draw their chief supplies of coal and 

 coke from England and Scotland, her manufactures must languish, 

 and so long will her vast mineral treasures remain undeveloped, and 

 her population be without profitable employment. 



The question may arise, — Why is the iron produced by vegetable 

 charcoal of better quality than that by mineral coke? The answer is 

 obvious : iron has an intense affinity for sulphur, and mineral coal 

 contains iron pyi-ites, a portion of the sulphur of which remains with 

 and injures the texture of the metal smelted by its agency, and renders 

 it unfit for the manufactiire of steel, as it is impossible, except at an 

 enormous cost, when once the sulphur has combined with the iron, to 

 make a perfect separation. 



Vegetable charcoal also contains some sulphur, but in all cases in a 

 neutral form, combined with potash, soda, or other alkaline re-agents, 

 in this condition it readily combines with the earthy matters of the 

 ore, and forms an ingredient of the slag The peat charcoal we propose 

 to manufacture also contains sulphur, chiefly in the neutral state, as 

 alkaline salts, but a small portion also remains as free acid. In smelt- 

 ing operations the alkaline sulphates combine with the earthy matters 

 of the ore, forming slag, and the free sulphuric acid is decomposed. — 

 One atom of the oxygen of the acid combines with an atom of carbon, 

 forming carbonic oxide, and liberating the remaining oxygen and the 

 sulphur as sulphurous acid ; thus all the sulphiu' of the free sulphuric 

 acid is evolved into the atmosphere. 



In pit coal the sulphur exists in varying quantities, from one to 

 fifteen per cent. When it exists in larger quantity than two or three 

 per cent, it renders the coal unfit for many manufacturing purposes. 



There is another quality of fuel of great importance, its heating 

 power. The following table is an extract from Br. lire's work, and 

 may be regarded as the mean results of numerous experiments made 

 by that gentleman. It gives the quantity of water raised from the 

 freezing to the boiling point, and the C(uantity of water of the tempera- 

 ture of 212°, evaporated by the combustion of one pound of fuel in 

 each case : — 



Pounds of water 



raised from 32 to 



212 degrees. 



lbs. 

 35 

 26 

 73 

 60 

 65 

 80 

 Peat charcoal ----- 64 



Perfectly dry wood - - ■ 

 Wood in its ordinary state 

 Do. charcoal - . - ■ 

 Pit-coal -----. 



Coke ------- 



Peat 



\y.itev at 212° 

 evaporated. 



6-36 



4-72 



13-27 



10-90 



11-81 



5-45 



11-1 



It will be seen from the above table that wood charcoal stands first 

 in heating power, coke second, and peat charcoal within 1-3 per cent, 

 equal to coke. 



Charcoal has also the peculiar faculty of absorbing watery vapour 

 and gases to an extraordinary extent. Professor Liebig states the 

 result of experiments conducted by Saussure, that one volume of char- 

 coal in 24 to 36 hours absorbed 90 volumes of ammoniacal gas, 65 

 sulphurous acid, and 55 of sulphuretted hydrogen. It also absorbs 

 nitrogen and many other gases. This property of charcoal has of late 

 been turned to practical account, as it has been used as a disinfecter, 

 and deodoriser, some interesting particulars of which will be found in 

 a paper read to this Society by Dr. Stenhouse, in the early part of last 



