Fuel Research Board Research Articles

The Carbonisation of Peat in Vertical Gas Retorts

THE programme of work undertaken by the Fuel Research Board includes research into the utilisation of machine-won peat, and a report has been issued giving the results of the first series of experiments on the carbonisation of peat in vertical gas retorts with steaming- This material was macerated in 1920, spread on the bog at Turraun, air dried and harvested there, and early in 1921 a hundred tons were sent to the Fuel Research Station, primarily for experiments upon its use in carbonisation and boiler firing.

Fuel Research1

THE first section, issued separately, of the report of the Fuel Research Board for the years 1920–21 is devoted to an account of experiments made at the Greenwich Experimental Station on steaming an vertical gas retorts. A Glover-West setting was employed, but the ordinary system of working was modified in one or two respects. The setting was fired by water-gas or coal-gas, the quantity of which could be measured, and the air for combustion was supplied under uniform positive pressure. Moreover, the air supply was, preheated by the outgoing flue gases at the top of the setting in an exchanger built of steel pipes.

The Peat Resources of Ireland

THE Fuel Research Board has issued as a Special Report (No. 2) a lecture on the above subject delivered by Prof. P. F. Purcell before the Royal Dublin Society last year. The importance of using the lower grade fuels has been greatly enhanced by the enormous rise in the price of our higher grade staple fuel, coal; and Sir George Beilby, in his intro ductory remarks to the Report, ascribes the revival of interest in peat as a fuel not only to the general scarcity of fuel, but also to the great and apparently permanent increase in the cost of coal.

The peat resources of Ireland

Journal of the Society of Chemical IndustryVolume 39, Issue 12 p. R213-R214 Review The peat resources of Ireland† First published: 30 June 1920 https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5000391202 † Abstract of a lecture given before the Royal Dublin society, March 5, 1919, by Prof. P. P. Parcell, Special Report No. 2, of the Fuel Research Board, 1920. AboutPDF 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 onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume39, Issue1230 June 1920Pages R213-R214 RelatedInformation

Fuel Research

AT the request of the Board of Trade and other Government departments, the Fuel Research Board has undertaken an investigation on the most suitable composition and quality of gas, and the minimum pressure at which it should be supplied, having regard to the desirability for economy in the use of coal, the adequate recovery of by-products, and the purposes for which coal is now used. The Research Board will also act in an advisory capacity. With the great extension of the use of gas for power and heatins, and the possibility of using efficiently for illuminating purposes, by means of the incandescent mantle, ga of much lower illuminating value than formerly, more importance now attaches to calorific value than to candle-power. Practice has necessarily conformed to the altered conditions, for gas engineers have gone a good way in solving the problems involved in making the best use of coal in their industry, in the recovery of by-products, on which success so much depends, together with supplying a gas satisfactory for the wide and varied requirements. The industry has indeed been exceptional in the valuable research work done, its enterprise being shown in the establishment of the Livesey Laboratory at Leeds.