EDITORIAL. 
LOW TEMPERATURE CARBONIZATION LTD. 
The Chemical Age reports the formation of a company in Great 
Britain for the low temperature carbonization of coal, which is issuing 
250,000 £1 shares at par. ~The total share capital is £1,200,000, 
equally divided into 7 per cent. participating preference shares and 
ordinary shares of £1 each; and 570,921 of the former and 226,910 of 
the latter have already been issued. There. has also been issued 
£145,027 of 6 per cent. first-mortgagé debenture stock, out of an autho- 
rized total of £150,000. The principal object of the company is the 
erection and operation of works for the carbonization or ccnversion 
of raw coal by the special process of the company into motor spirit, 
fuel oil, smokeless fuel, sulphate of ammonia, and gas. Important 
contracts, it is stated, have been secured with the Yorkshire Electric 
Power Company, the Sheffield Corporation, and Steel, Peech, and Tozer 
Ltd., Sheffield; while negotiations have been completed and agreements 
are in course of preparation with one of the largest. steel-makers in 
Scotland, and an important group of manufacturers on the Clyde. 
A considerable portion of the machinery and plant required for carrying 
out the contract with the Yorkshire Electric Power Company has 
already been erected at Barnsley by a concern whose shares are owned 
by Low Temperature Carbonization Ltd. From this plant gas is 
supplied to.the power company under the contract with that company, 
and is used for burning under the boilers of their electricity generating © 
stations. _ Great saving is thereby effected in working costs through 
the avoidance of all waste of the products which would otherwise be 
carried away as smoke. It is estimated that 1,000,000 tons of coal per 
annum will be carbonized in connexion with the above contracts, which — 
involve the supply of approximately 7,000 million cubic feet of gas. In 
addition, the following products will be available for sale:—Motor 
spirit for motor cars and aeroplanes, about 3,000,000: gallons per annum ; 
fuel oil, suitable for Navy, and ship’s fuel, about 16,000,000 gallons per 
annum; smokeless fuel for domestic use, about 700,000 tons per annum; 
sulphate of ammonia, for fertilizers and high explosives, about 9,000 
tons per annum. ‘The proceeds of this issue will be devoted to the 
completion of the Barnsley works to an extended capacity of 175,200 
pons of coal per annum and to the general development of the company’s 
usiness. 
ALTERNATIVE MOTOR FUELS. 
_ Examining the possibilities of coal as an alternative source of 
motor fuel, the Fuel Research Board points out that, even from the 
world point of view, coal must remain by far the most important 
source of heat and power; for, while there are, no doubt, great 
undeveloped sources of natural oil, these cannot for a moment be com- 
pared:in extent with the undeveloped coal deposits which are known to 
exist, or which can be estimated from geological surveys with a degree 
of certainty, which does not apply to similar estimates of the possible 
occurrence of oil deposits. Summing up the position as regards coal 
as a source of motor fuel, the Fuel Research Board states that—(1) 
Coal is the largest, as well as the cheapest, source of fuel for transport 
purposes. (2) Means are already in our hands for the “sorting out” 
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