MAKING HARD COAL OF SOFT.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 August 1919, Page 2

MAKING HARD COAL OF SOFT.

‘Little short of a. complete ‘revolution in the coal business, and consequently far—l'e:.-acliing elianges in the .»=‘Lrnericau industry, are the results which, it is. predicted, will follow from the invention of a new co.nlmercial process of converting Ibiiuininpus coal, into _‘.an equivalent. of hard coal. The new fuel is entirely smokeless, and under the new process by-products now wasted, are recovered. Tlasse largely compensate for the (;‘Cs‘;' of conversion. A plant has been in Op«’.‘l'3.i’oll for some time, perfecting the process, and making tests of :1 practical character. The raw coal. is subjected to a distillation ‘process at low temperatures, the residue being ‘pressed into hard. durable bricks that produce intense heat. If the claims, of the new interests ‘already identified with the/’process prove true (says “Popular Meeha-h nics”), it. means that future problems arising from hard—coal shortage have been solved, that in many cases power can be produced near the coal fields, and transported at low cost to large industrial centres, and that cities _remote from anthracite regions can procure :1 sgriolielrss fuel for domestic and other 122:“: xyhich can be sold at a moderate figt:-re.