Fuel Research Board Research Articles

A scientific energy policy for Britain

Journal Article A scientific energy policy for Britain Get access M.W. Thring, Sc D, F Eng., FI Mech E, FIEE M.W. Thring, Sc D, F Eng., FI Mech E, FIEE formerly Head of Department Dept of Mechanical Engineering, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK Professor Thring retired as Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary College, University of London, in Sept 1981. Professor of Fuel Technology and Chemical Engineering, University of Sheffield 1953–64. Member of Clean Air Council 1957–62, Fuel Research Board 1957–58, Fire Research Board 1961–64, Advisory Council on Research and Development Ministry of Power 1960–66. President of the Institute of Fuel 1962–3. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Science and Public Policy, Volume 10, Issue 3, June 1983, Pages 106–111, https://doi.org/10.1093/spp/10.3.106 Published: 01 June 1983

Fuel Research Board: Report for 1953

Fuel Research Board: Report for 1953

The distribution of coal volatiles in the South Wales Coalfield and its probable signifinance

Summary The variation of volatile contents in seams in a horizontal sense is shown on an isovol map constructed by the Fuel Research Board following on a coal survey of the South Wales Coalfield. Nine vertical sequences of seams were also assembled, giving the volatile contents of each seam and its depth below a top seam assumed as a datum. For each of these sequences the constants and coefficients in each of four hypothetical relations were found by the least-squares method; these four hypotheses are: Hilt's law, the square-root relationship proposed by F. M. Trotter, the exponential relation suggested by H. W. Wellman between the ratio of the volatiles to fixed carbon and the depth, and another exponential relation between the volatiles and the depth. When applied to calculate the volatile contents of the other seams in the sequences all these relations gave results which did not differ significantly. The sequences cannot therefore give a verdict in favour of or against any one of the above hypotheses. The fact of greatest interest that emerged is that the coefficients for each expression vary so widely from one part of the field to another that no expression which uses a fixed value for its coefficient can be applied successfully to the coalfield as a whole. A surprising empirical relation was found, however, between these varying values and the mean volatile contents over which they hold, and from this expressions were derived which enable the volatile contents of any seam to be calculated or predicted if its depth below any other seam of known volatile content is given. These calculations are independent of any theory and the same value is obtained whichever of the above expressions is used if its coefficient and constant are determined by standard methods. The intimate relation between volatile contents and depth has been used to construct a contour map showing the depth of the Nine Feet Seam below an assumed datum of a seam with a 40 per cent volatile content. It is considered that this extremely intimate relation between volatile content and depth can be explained only by the hypothesis that the changing conditions which obtained when the seam was buried to varying depths are responsible for the variation of volatile contents. These relations are applied to certain problematic areas in the coalfield.

Food research under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (D. S. I. R.) was established in 1916 and, in June 1917, the Cold Storage and Ice Association sent a deputation to the Department’s Advisory Council, stating that thousands of tons of food were lost annually by decay before they could be marketed, and urging the national importance of research by Government on the preservation of foodstuffs. The Council agreed to consider the matter, and in October a report was prepared and presented by the late Sir William Hardy (then Mr W. B. Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society and Secretary of the Society’s Food (War) Committee), and three other Fellows of the Society, the late Professors W. M. Bayliss, J. B. Farmer and Gowland Hopkins. A Research Director and a Research Board were recommended and appointed, the terms of reference of the Board being ‘To organize and control research into the preparation and preservation of foods’. The decision thus taken implied that the work to be done was considered to belong broadly to the class of national researches better conducted by the State than by industry with Government assistance. Hardy was the first Director and the members of the Board were Sir Kenneth Anderson, Sir Walter Fletcher, Sir Richard Threlfall, Professor T. B. Wood, Sir Thomas MacKenzie (High Commissioner for New Zealand) and Sir Joseph Broodbank (Chairman of the Port of London Authority). The Board became known as the Food Investigation Board—or the ‘F. I. B.’. The word ‘investigation’ rather than ‘research’ was used to avoid confusion with the Fuel Research Board—F. R. B.—which had been set up in the previous year. £5000 was allocated for the expenses of the first half-year, and the Board presented its first report in November 1918.

GEOLOGY IN THE WAR AND AFTER

DR. E. B. BAILEY, in a lecture to the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, delivered on November 17, on “Geology in the War and After”, dealt in particular with the work of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, of which he is director. The main war aim has been to give useful advice on: (1) home mineral resources, so as to meet essential needs with economy of shipping and foreign currency ; (2) underground water, for new aerodromes, camps and factories ; (3) subterranean facilities, for storage and personnel. Coal is the main mineral asset of Great Britain. Two interesting current problems occupy a considerable share of the Geological Survey's time: first, the resurrection, with modern equipment, of coal outcrop working, and second, the correlation of coal seams. Correlation work has been intensified because confused nomenclature impedes progress that may be expected from the recent unification of ownership in the hands of the State. In its coal work, the Geological Survey co-operates closely with another branch of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, namely, the Fuel Research Board, the concern of which is with the quality of the coal seams.

Government Fuel Research in Great Britain

IN an address to the Institute of Fuel in Newcastle upon Tyne on December 13, Dr. A. Parker, director of fuel research of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, surveyed the activities of the Fuel Research Board. To-day, this State organization, with a staff of more than 250, includes the central Fuel Research Station, equipped not only for experiments in the laboratory, but also for experiments on a semi-commercial scale and on a full commercial scale. The full-scale units include plants for cleaning, drying and pulverizing coal, for the manufacture of fuel gases, hydrogen and coke, and there are full-size boilers of several kinds. Experimental work has also been undertaken in co-operation with industry. In addition to the Fuel Research Station, there are nine coal survey laboratories in various parts of England, Scotland and Wales which have been undertaking, in collaboration with the Geological Survey, a comprehensive survey of the qualities of the coal resources of Great Britain. This survey is now being put on a quantitative basis in co-operation with the Coal Commission and the Ministry of Fuel and Power. As a result of this survey, we already have much more information about our coal reserves and the coals on the market than there is about the coals in any other country. Referring to achievements of the fuel research organization, Dr. Parker stated that simple equipment has been developed for fitting to large industrial boilers, which not only greatly reduces the quantity of smoke from the boiler chimney but also increases the efficiency of the coal in raising steam, and work on transport producers using coal and coke in place of petrol for road vehicles, begun at the Fuel Research Station before the War, has led to the introduction of the Government Emergency Producer now in use on many road vehicles. Processes for the production of petrol and other oils and chemicals from coal have received considerable attention at the Fuel Research Station, and a great deal of information has been obtained from experimental work on the distillation of coal, hydrogenation of coal and of tar, and on synthetic methods of producing oils and chemicals from gases made from coal and coke.

The Fuel Research Board

THE report of the Fuel Research Board for the year ending March 31, 1939, has recently appeared*, As this date was passed more than one and a half years ago the contents have lost their freshness. They reveal the measure of activity of national research on fuel problems before the outbreak of war and allow the reader to judge of the use made of the results.

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Report of the Fuel Research Board for the year ended March 31st, 1939

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Report of the Fuel Research Board for the year ended March 31st, 1939

Reports and other Publications

(not included in the Books Supplemt) Great Britain and Ireland Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Report of the Fuel Research Board for the Year ended 31st March 1939, with Report of the Director of Fuel Research. Pp. iv + 206. (London: H.M. Stationery Office.) 3s. 6d. net. [1311

Research in Fuel Technology

THE growth in size of the annual report of the Fuel Research Board is an indication of the expanding work of this section of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which was established in 1917.

The Fuel Research Station: ANNUAL VISITATION

THE Fuel Research Station at Greenwich, the headquarters of the fuel research organization of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was inspected by nearly four hundred representatives of science and industry on June 1. The visitors were received by Sir Harold Hartley, chairman of the Fuel Research Board, and the director of fuel research, Dr. F. S. Sinnatt.

Chemical Technology and Engineering. Report of the Fuel research board for the year ended march 31, 1936. With Report of the Director of Fuel Research. Pp. x + 217. London: H.M. Stationery Oilice, 1936. 4s

Chemical Technology and Engineering. Report of the Fuel research board for the year ended march 31, 1936. With Report of the Director of Fuel Research. Pp. x + 217. London: H.M. Stationery Oilice, 1936. 4s

Coal Hydrogenation in Great Britain

THE daily discussion of ‘oil sanctions' will have served a useful purpose if it brings home to the publicthe perilous position of Great Britain in regard to oil supplies in time of war. Actually the London omnibuses alone consume more fuel than the total quantity of benzole produced by coke ovens and gas works, whilst apart from the new has been supplemented recently by a technics] paper issued by the Fuel Research Board describing the earlier investigations of Bergius and the action of the Department, and its connexion with other bodies interested in the subject prior to the advent of I.C.I. This forms a valuable historical survey.

Coal Production and Utilisation

THE report of the Fuel Research Board for the year ending March 31, 1935, is timely, coming just when the difficulties of the coal industries are again forced upon public notice by the restiveness of labour in the mining community. Here is an industry equipped and staffed for a production of coal greatly in excess of current requirements. The industry itself seems to have lacked prevision of the results of the natural trend of events. It has sunk large new pits as though consumption would continue the expansion of pre-War days. Then an abundant export market existed and wasteful consumption at home offered tempting opportunities to secure economy by attention to more efficient consumption. Indeed, this economy was enjoined by the Ministry of Reconstruction at the end of the Great War, as an aim to be sought by national action. Consumers have grasped at the economies to be secured by better technique in fuel consumption, and the report gives clear illustrations by quoting figures covering the reign of King George.

Organisation of the Coal Industry

SIR HAROLD HARTLEY, addressing the Institution of Chemical Engineers on October 20 on “Our Nation's Coal Resources”, surveyed the changes which, during the last twenty-five years, have so profoundly affected the prosperity of the British coal industry. He pointed out the need which has been disclosed for the National Coal Survey undertaken by the Fuel Research Board, and stated that the value of the work of the Survey is becoming more obvious as it progresses. He advocates extending the Survey to examine the suitability of coals for the different industrial purposes, so as to discover where need for conservation exists. Fuel economy in utilisation and other circumstances have reduced the production of coal; but methods of mining have made great progress, and both circumstances reduce the number of mine workers. Methods of transportation and distribution have not kept pace with the improvement with the methods of mining. Sir Harold condemned the widespread ownership of private waggons as a burden on cost of distribution and advocated a unification of interests at least up to the point at which coal is to be transferred to the consumer. A rational system of grading should replace trade practice of selling by description. Intensified research on the fundamental nature of coal was urged, and indeed the factors which seem to Sir Harold most promising are more research and better organisation. The latter may be unpalatable to some individualists, but seems to be inevitable.

Sir Harry McGowan's Reply

SIR HARRY MCGOWAN, on behalf of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., thanked Mr. Ramsay MacDonald for his address. He said that the opening of the Billingham plant has brought to a practical commencement an enterprise which has engaged the attention of his firm for many years. “We began at Billingham in 1927 on a very small scale indeed. For two and a half years research continued on a moderate scale, and by then it was clear that to achieve success a bold expansion policy was essential. Notwithstanding the discouraging business conditions of 1930 and 1931, we launched in those years an extended programme of work at a heavy annual cost. … In the end we spent more than a million pounds on this research.” During this period active encouragement was given by H.M. Government and interest was displayed in the work by the Fuel Research Board. Similar activities were proceeding abroad though from slightly different angles. The German I.G. was at work on brown coal, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was occupied with petroleum oil, and the Shell Group were not inactive. “In 1931 we effected with these three companies a pooling of all interests in the hydrogenation process, including a provision for a complete exchange of information, which promoted a more rapid advance by bringing us into immediate touch with every development of major importance.” The construction of this plant marks the culmination of eight years' work. “The chemists, engineers, metallurgists, draughtsmen, and workers may all be proud when they look at this plant. To name them is impossible, but without being invidious I desire to single out Mr. Kenneth Gordon, who has been in charge of the research work and construction of the plant, and also my colleague Colonel Pollitt, who was the inspiration of our earliest efforts.”

Fuel Research in Great Britain

THE Fuel Research Station at East Greenwich was open for inspection on June 4, and about 250 guests were received by Sir Harold Hartley, chairman of the Fuel Research Board, and Dr. F. S. Sinnatt, Director of Fuel Research. The whole of the plant was on view, and the work in progress was explained and demonstrated.

British Oil from Coal

THE first train load of 100,000 gallons of oil made by low-temperature carbonisation from British coal went to the new plant of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. at Billingham from the Barugh (Yorks) works of Low Temperature Carbonisation Ltd. on April 26. The train, which was drawn by two locomotives, consisted of 34 tanks of 3,000 gallons each and weighed nearly 1,000 tons gross. On arrival at Billingham the oil, which is made from coal by the coalite process, is being submitted to hydrogenation and converted into about 100,000 gallons of petrol. This is the first time that a bulk consignment of oil obtained by low-temperature carbonisation has been treated by a hydrogenation plant in Great Britain. Tests carried out by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and H.M. Fuel Research Board show that this oil is particularly suitable for conversion into petrol by hydrogenation, and the event constitutes a notable achievement in the history of the coal and coal oil industry in Great Britain.

Fuel Research in Great Britain

THE work of the Fuel Research Board touches many aspects of the technology of fuel, and the annual report for the year ending March 1934 therefore provides a useful review of the problems before the coal and other fuel industries.

Report of the fuel research board for the year ended march, 1933. With Report of the Director of Fuel Research. Department of Scientific and Industrial research. Pp. viii + 140. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1933. 2s. 6d.

Journal of the Society of Chemical IndustryVolume 53, Issue 38 p. 798-798 Review Report of the fuel research board for the year ended march, 1933. With Report of the Director of Fuel Research. Department of Scientific and Industrial research. Pp. viii + 140. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1933. 2s. 6d. Arthur Marsden, Search for more papers by this author Arthur Marsden, Search for more papers by this author First published: 21 September 1934 https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5000533805AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume53, Issue3821 September 1934Pages 798-798 RelatedInformation