Ministry Of Fuel Research Articles

Fuel for Household Use

ON February 18 Mr. J. G. Bennett, addressing the Fuel Luncheon Club in London on "The Future of Coal for Small-Scale Uses", compared raw coal, town's gas and electricity for household space heating. The comparison was based on heat costs incurred in production and distribution and the efficiency in use of gas and electricity when these are produced from coal. The results for all three, with appliances of current type, turned out to be identical—16 per cent of the heating value of the coal. Developments anticipated in appliances were estimated to increase these figures to 45 per cent for coal burnt in open fires, 24 per cent for gas and 33 per cent for electricity. Some may read into these figures the implication that no fuel-saving can be expected from the processing of coal before use. It should, however, be recalled that coal-less countries import large quantities of coal for carbonization to produce gas and coke. It is unlikely that they are unanimously thriftless. Attention should be paid to the difference in the method of calculation. In the case of coal and electric fires, the resulting heat is usually a product of the raw coal. Gas, however, is derived from the volatile matter only, which is not more than one third of the whole of the coal. Then nearly the whole of the heat cost of processing is charged against this gas, and the end efficiency figure is reduced to one sixth. Even then, the efficiency figure is not less than the figure given for coal and electricity. Unlike, but over and above these, there remains some halfton of coke available for domestic and industrial uses for which raw coal is unsuitable. At the moment, the Ministry of Fuel and Power is taking advantage of this reserve.

Ministry of Fuel and Power. Annual Report of the safety in Mines Research Board

Ministry of Fuel and Power. Annual Report of the safety in Mines Research Board

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.

Institute of Fuel : Melchett Medal

The Melchett Medal for 1943 of the Institute of Fuel has been awarded to Dr. E. S. Grumell. This medal is the highest award in the gift of the Institute of Fuel and is being presented to Dr. Grumell in recognition of the outstanding work tending to the economical use of fuel which he has done over a long period. Dr. Grumell has, for many years, been head of the coal research laboratories of the Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and the research and experimental work carried out by him, having been published for the benefit of the community as well as for that of his company, has resulted in improving the design of many combustion appliances and, consequently, in the saving of large quantities of fuel. In addition, Dr. Grumell was appointed chairman of the Fuel Efficiency Committee set up by the Mines Department and later carried on under the Ministry of Fuel and Power. The work of that Committee has undoubtedly contributed very largely to the more economical use of fuel in Great Britain, thus enabling our output of coal to meet the essential demands of both industrial and domestic requirements. The medal will be presented at the annual conference of the Institute of Fuel to be held in October next.

Fuel Testing

INDUSTRY in general has not given adequate attention in the past to thrift in the use of fuel. In Great Britain coal has been abundant, good and relatively cheap. Fuel has usually been a minor item in cost of production. War conditions have brought a change measured by the scarcity and cost of fuel. Moreover, it is unlikely that pre-war conditions will ever return. Present conditions have caught many with plant inadequate to handle lower-grade fuels and operated by staffs lacking in technical knowledge to cope with new difficulties. One result has been the issue by the Ministry of Fuel and Power of much literature in pamphlet form full of practical advice on most of the problems facing the operational staffs of fuel consumers. Last year the British Standards Institution issued two new specifications on (a) “The Sampling of Coal and Coke”, No. 1017, 1942, and (b) “The Analysis and Testing of Coal and Coke”, No. 1016, 1942. These collect and codify what has previously been scattered in several specifications, representing the combined experience of many years. They give the general impression of an increase in the elaboration and refinement which is necessary in research and critical work. Anyone familiar with the conditions under which coal is bought, sampled and handled in ordinary industrial practice will doubt whether all this refinement is necessary. The book by G. W. Himus is a timely production, for not only does it incorporate the essentials of the British Standards Institution specifications, but also it goes much further, with chapters on liquid and gaseous fuels, technical pyrometry and other matters of interest to the fuel technologist. It is the most recent and comprehensive work of its kind available to those chemists and engineers who are compelled by circumstance to interest themselves in industrial fuel economy, and of these to-day there are many.

Institute of Fuel : New President

DR. E. W. SMITH has been elected president of the Institute of Fuel for the session 1943-44, and will take office in October next. Dr. Smith has been well known in the fuel world for many years, having been chief chemist at the Birmingham Corporation Gas Department for several years before becoming technical director of the Woodall-Duckham Companies some twenty years ago. In 1941 he was appointed by Sir Andrew Duncan, then president of the Board of Trade, as director-general of gas supply in Great Britain, a position he continued to hold when the Government interests in the gas industry were transferred to the new Ministry of Fuel and Power. Having completed the work for the Government that he had undertaken to do, he resigned his position a few weeks ago.