COAL TREATMENT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 88, 8 January 1935, Page 3

COAL TREATMENT

Possible Industry For

Dominion

WORK FOR MORE PEOPLE “New Zealand has enormous deposits of coal, both black and brown, and what is now being done in England could equally well be done in New Zealand,” writes Mr. G. G. Wood, in a letter to the Editor of “The Dominion,” in which he emphasises the importance to New Zealand of developments in the extraction of petrol from coal taking place in England. The letter is written from Syston, Leicestershire, England. “A few days ago I had occasion to call in at the New Zealand Government offices in London, and on leaving the building paused at the entrance hall to read some files of your paper,” writes Mr. Wood. “My attention was held by a recent speech by the GovernorGeneral, in which he said it was his opinion that it was of paramount importance that New Zealand should increase its population. Given this statement of fact as agreed by all thinking men, the problem arises as to how it can be done, and what trades the intended settlers can follow so that they can do their share in increasing the wealth and prosperity of the Dominion. Money Available. “With this in mind, I take the liberty of enclosing a cutting from the London ‘Observer.’ There is no need for me to add many remarks, as the cutting speaks worlds for itself. What the coming of such an industry would mean to New Zealand can be well visualised; it would bring increased prosperity to the whole Dominion, and the development of the mineral resources would, in itself, bring other industries in its train. “There now arises the question of the cost, equipment, and bringing over of thousands of English miners and their families. There are millions of pounds sterling lying on deposit in the English joint stock banks earning an absurdly small rate of interest because there is no work for that money to do, so a substantial loan floated here should be well received, and you should have no difficulty in raising the necessary capital. “It is, of course, only possible to give the barest outlines in a letter like this, but I feel sure you will appreciate the idea and its enormous possibilities.” Huge English Works. Following is the article in the “Observer,” published on November 18, to which Mr. Wood refers: — Developments of considerable value are taking place in the production in this country of petrol from coal. They are ail pointing to the day, though it may still be distant, when we shall become much less dependent than we are at present upon supplies from America and other countries. The great works which are being put up at Billingham at a cost of £2,500,000 will be completed, I understand, next spring. Should the experiment be as successful as its promoters have every reason to hope, they will produce annually over a hundred thousand tons of petrol of the first grade. The results will pre/y ably go much further. Indeed, as Sir Harry McGowan said in his presidential address to the Institute of Fuel, they “may be incalculable.” The construction of the plant is employing, either directly or indirectly, some twelve thousand men, and when operations begin the estimated employment will be about fifteen hundred miners, thirteen hundred men on the plant itself, and another twelve hundred indirectly, but permanently. The requirements of coal, including that for raising steam and power and manufacturing hydrogen, will be three hundred and fifty thousand tons a year. Hydrogenation Research. Coal was first hydrogenated iu 1868 by Berthelot, using hydroidic acid, but it was not until two years before the war that Dr. Bergins, the Melchett medallist for the present year, first succeeded in combining hydrogen directly with coal in a practical manner. His master patents were taken out in 1913 and 1914, but developments were delayed until 1926, when a German firm began work on the process. In the following year the value of hydrogenation as applied to petroleum oils was recognised 'in America. . In England, in the meantime, Imperial Chemical Industries, working independently and primarily on bituminous coal, had made great progress in hydrogenation, and erected and ran for a long period an experimental plant making about thirty tons of petrol a day. It was owing to the highly satisfactory nature of the results that it was decided, with the assistance of the Government, to erect the very much larger plant that is now nearing completion. - Some time ago it was apparent to tne four main companies working on the process, the fourth being the Royal Dutch Shell Company, that great mutual benefit would result in a pooling of patents and technical experiences. Hence the formation of the International Hydrogenation Patents Company. Hydrogenated petrol and oils have been extensively tried by the Navy, Arjny, and Air I'oree, as well as in private cars, and have been found satisfactory. Cost of Process. The effect on prices w’hen the works at Billingham begin operations is not expected to be noticeable. The output a. present visualised by all new installations is not likely to exceed that of the existing home production, which itself has always undergone the same price movements as imported petrol. It is, however, probable that hydrogenation costs will tend to come down, and although, in the first place, development may be restricted to under 5 per cent, of the country’s needs, there, is the satisfactory knowledge that the existence of the first commercial hydrogenation plant will make a much stronger starting point for expansion in case of national emergency, and will be a permanent safeguard against sueh a rise of prices as that which was experienced just after the war. In the meantime, other methods or pioducing oil from coal on a commercial basis are being demonstrated. Only the other day Dr. C. H. Lander, who was for some years head of the Government Fuc. Research Station at Greenwich, accompanied a party of English and foreign visitors to the ivorks of the National Coke and Oil Company at Cannock, and explained to them that the plant, which is treating a hundred and fifty tons, of coal a day, has been increasing steadily, month after month, and that from every ton of coal there can be produced, besides good smokeless fuel. 15 gallons or more petrol. The plant is inexpensive, and six others have already been planned. Then there is the Motor Fuel Company. which has been 1 ecuring such good results with a trial plant that it has decided to go ahead on a larger scale, with a capacity of a hundred tons of coal a day. working eventually up to five hundred. Tar Treatment. The Fuel Research Station has also an important programme dealing with the treatment of tar. It has been shown that the whole of the tar produced at comparatively low’ temperatures and a large proportion of other tars can be hydrogenated to produce excellent motor spirit. The work at Greenwich has been directed mainly to the design of a plant to deal with about three hundred gallons of tar a day. The success of this treatment should be of great service to low temperature carbonisation processes, rn making tar a much more valuable pro- t duct than it is at present. <