THE NEW FUEL

Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1932, Page 7

THE NEW FUEL

OIL ANt) POWDERED COAL

CUNARD EXPERIMENT

LONDON, August 24. Tho Cunard liner Scythia, wjiich has been experimenting with the pew oilcoal 'colloidal fuel, has arrived; back at Liverpool. ■>. ■■, ■ '■ m>, An official statement issuer! by the Cunard Company show's that the main ; question at issue has been satisfactorily answered. This was/ whether the mixture of crude oil and extremely fine powdered coal would prove sufficient y stabe under conditions "at sea,v remaining-, liquid and honogeanoua, so as,'to pass ■ freely from the tank, to .'the burners and there be as effectively atomosied as oil alone, -ft haS’ done this. There been no sedimentation of the '..coal from the .viscid mixture ; the fuel Las been continuously fed to the minute orifices of the burners Without, choking\thfesb'iri Any waythe ediribiis" tioli is reported tt) liilVfe b&eii perfect, arid ill cdiihrmation of thU claim it is painted out that the smoke stacks of t)h& icyfhitt have thrown down on to the. decks no perceptible e*h ei‘ dust attributable to the oil-coal fuel. The manufacture, of the mixture if attempted on a scale commensurate with the requirements cf ocean: liners ’would be a. business requiring n ! special plant f not yet in existence. Mirny .considerations would arise. -Theoretically, use of the oil-coal would effect a large saving, for the Adam mixture is crude oil 60 per cent, and pulverised coal 40 per cent, by weight, and the coal constituent of the mixture ’’s, at present prices, only one-fifth as erst'y as the oil. If the proportion of coal could be increased, the fuel cost would be still lower. The expense of bringing the coal to the oil depots and pulveris. ing and mixing it there would be an offset. It is not yet disclosed whether or not the Cunard Company will move in the direction of. setting up mixing plants for their own use.

(EVERYTHING AS EXPECTED

Mr A. W. Fferrins, the Cunard Company’s combustion engineer, who made the round trip in the liner, said in an interview:

“We used the same heater and burner pipes as for ordinary fuel oil, with the exception that a slightly modified diaphragm was fitted. The tanks were the same as for ordinary fuel oil, and the new fuel was easily pumped. The average consumption of the oi] and coal was 17 tons a day for the four furnaces. The tank was quite clean after the fit?! had all been used out cf it. There was lio deposit whatever, and the heater and trainers were also clear. lam satisfied, after a through test, that the new fuel is perfectly stable, and that it wi'l remain stable for all purposes at least. A fuel that I’emnined stable for. only three weeks would meet the requirements of a Cunard, liner, hut vessels making longer voyages would require such a fuel to remain stable fer three months at least.

. “Everything turned out as I expected. There was no ash deposit on the boat deck, ’ and the only ash extracted was from the smoke-boxes, a normal thing in pulverised coal burning! Thero was slagging in the furnace. That also is an important point. We had to clean the burners only twice as often as when oil alone is used.”