100 The Philippine Journal of Science 1918 



the outcrop coal and the slack must be disposed of. It was 

 believed that these would give excellent results in a producer-gas 

 plant and if so would greatly help the industrial development 

 of the country. Low-grade coals when converted into gas for 

 internal-combustion engines give relatively high thermal effi- 

 ciency. These facts led to a careful study of the various types 

 of producer-gas apparatus and to installation of a suction pro- 

 ducer-gas plant in the power house of the Bureau of Science for 

 an additional power unit and for the trial of Philippine fuels 

 in such a plant. In discussing these tests, many details are pur- 

 posely included, because this is the only plant of its kind in the 

 Philippines, and any data that may be obtained in operating 

 it will serve as a guide in the operation of producer-gas plants 

 that may be installed in the future. 



SOURCES OF POWER IN THE PHILIPPINES 



A comparison of different types of prime movers involves a 

 consideration of many variable factors such as availability and 

 transportation facility, quality and price of the fuel consumed, 

 availability and price of general supplies, the use of the power, 

 type of the unit, capital invested, interest, depreciation, and 

 location of the machinery. When the power plant is large, the 

 advantages of a given unit are frequently expressed only from 

 the viewpoint of the fuel consumption cost per horsepower hour 

 and include only a statement of the size and type of the prime 

 mover. It is evident that such a statement is inaccurate, but 

 on account of the large number of variables, it is impossible to 

 make a general statement applicable to all types of prime movers 

 included in a given class. The same variables render it possible 

 to make only approximate calculations of power costs and the 

 economy of the performance of various prime movers and, there- 

 fore, of the advantages or disadvantages of different types of 

 engines. 



As a source of energy in the Philippine Islands there are 

 many waterfalls and streams of large capacity that are entirely 

 undeveloped. At present prime movers are operated exclusively 

 by (1) coal, (2) liquid fuel, or (3) miscellaneous fuels such as 

 rice husks, sugar cane bagasse, saw mill waste, coconut shells 

 or husks, etc. The general practice with regard to the use of 

 these is as follows: 



Coal. — The general practice is to fire coal directly under the 

 boiler. .The only instance in which it is converted first into pro- 

 ducer gas for an internal combustion engine is in the plant of 

 the Bureau of Science, which it is the purpose of this paper to 



