FUEL RESEARCH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5185, 30 September 1927, Page 1

FUEL RESEARCH.

WAIKATO COAL EXPERIMENTS. USE BY RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. In the course of the annual report of the N.Z. Railways Board of Management the following information with reference to fuel research appears :—

“A good deal of attention has been directed during the last year or two to the success achieved in Germany with regard to the economic utilisation of lignite coals by the process known as low-temperature carbonisation. The matter has such an important bearing on the coal position in New Zealand that last year the Government obtained a full report from a prominent English fuel authority on the adoption of a similar scheme in New Zealand in connection with Waikato coal. The report,together with full information of trial tests on the New Zealand railways of this fuel manufactured from Waikato coal, have been referred to a. special council to consider all the data available on the subject and make recommendations to the Government as to what course of action should be followed. “Shortly, the process is, to extract tar and other products from t,he coal from which crude oil, petrol, etc., are distilled. The coke-like residue from the first low-temperature carbonisation process is pulverised, and, with a small percentage of pitch mixed for a binder, is pressed into briquettes of varioqs' sizes. It is an interesting fact that the manufactured briquette (from which the oils have been extracted) is of a higher calorific value than the raw coal. It hasi the further advantage of being smokeless, and not liable to spark when used in railway locomotives.

“These advantages are of very great value, and should the schemes under consideration be found practicable and economically possible they will play a very important part in solving the coal troubles of the Dominion, for, owing to its sparking propensities, the use of Waikato coal on the railways: is rendered impossible during the summer months, and in consequence the mines are usually idle for several days of the week. For many years New Zealand has had to import large quantities of coal. These importations could be limited to a large extent by the extended utilization of Waikato coal in this way, and still further if it is found possible to manufacture suitable briquettes from certain classes of South Island coals. A good deal of further investigation is essential, as every possible aspect of such a momentous undertaking must be fully weighed before finality can be reached. At the sam® time many other interesting processes are being looked into, and these-, of necessity, must be tried out by the Railways, for the Department, being the largest consumer, would be able to contract for a sufficiently large amount of fuel to enable any new enterprise economically to commence operations.”