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Coke from peat
442
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Provision of more than one manual control device is often desirable for stopping prime movers or motors, since in emergencies this may save valuable time, especially where the equipment is of considerable extent and much distance might have to be traversed in order to reach a single point of control. Through the use of relay control circuits a single valve or main switch can readily be operated from several points. The relative importance of electrical circuits controlling stopping devices, together with the natural frailty of the comparatively small conductors employed, makes the use of conduit or other mechanical protection essential to assure reliability. The use of closed circuits assures that any chance open circuit will immediately give evidence of its existence through lamps or bells connected in the circuit. With open circuits a break in the circuit may not be discovered until in an emergency the control may be found inoperative. Where, as with motor-operated switches or valves, the control circuits must be normally open, it will be necessary to depend on the mechanical protection of the circuit for its maintenance in operative condition. Coke f r o m Peat. ANON. (La Chronique Industrielle, vol. 4o, No. 295, p. 7, June 20, I 9 1 7 . ) - - T h e Peat, Coal, and Oil Syndicate of Doncaster, Yorkshire, is developing a new method for treating a special variety of d r y black peat and converting it into a hard foundry coke, the by-products being tar and tarry liquids from which automobile oils can be obtained by distillation. It is not claimed that all varieties of peat can be profitably used, but it is said that hundreds of acres containing millions of tons of peat can be commercially utilized by this process. The black layer at the bottom of the bog is most suitable for the manufacture of coke. This material is freed of its excess of water and subjected to a carbonizing process by means of which b y - ' products are recovered, the residue being a soft and friable coke. Notwi,thstanding that peat coke has lower sulphur content than any other combustible, up to this time its insufficient hardness has been an obstacle to its application in blast-furnace operation. This fault, it is claimed, is now overcome, and a hard, strong, and pure coke is now obtained. A German chemist has proved by analysis that IOOO tons of air-dried peat will produce 400 tons of coke, 4o tons of tar, and 400 tons of tarry liquids. The tar can be further distilled to yield I8 tons of crude oil, two tons of creosote, two tons of pitch, and eight tons of paraffin. T h e t a r r y liquids will yield four tons of sulphate of ammonium, six tons of acetate of lime, and two tons methyl alcohol. It is estimated that there will be a profit of 9 ° c. (centimes ?) on every ton of peat so treated.
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Provision of more than one manual control device is often desirable for stopping prime movers or motors, since in emergencies this may save valuable time, especially where the equipment is of considerable extent and much distance might have to be traversed in order to reach a single point of control. Through the use of relay control circuits a single valve or main switch can readily be operated from several points. The relative importance of electrical circuits controlling stopping devices, together with the natural frailty of the comparatively small conductors employed, makes the use of conduit or other mechanical protection essential to assure reliability. The use of closed circuits assures that any chance open circuit will immediately give evidence of its existence through lamps or bells connected in the circuit. With open circuits a break in the circuit may not be discovered until in an emergency the control may be found inoperative. Where, as with motor-operated switches or valves, the control circuits must be normally open, it will be necessary to depend on the mechanical protection of the circuit for its maintenance in operative condition. Coke f r o m Peat. ANON. (La Chronique Industrielle, vol. 4o, No. 295, p. 7, June 20, I 9 1 7 . ) - - T h e Peat, Coal, and Oil Syndicate of Doncaster, Yorkshire, is developing a new method for treating a special variety of d r y black peat and converting it into a hard foundry coke, the by-products being tar and tarry liquids from which automobile oils can be obtained by distillation. It is not claimed that all varieties of peat can be profitably used, but it is said that hundreds of acres containing millions of tons of peat can be commercially utilized by this process. The black layer at the bottom of the bog is most suitable for the manufacture of coke. This material is freed of its excess of water and subjected to a carbonizing process by means of which b y - ' products are recovered, the residue being a soft and friable coke. Notwi,thstanding that peat coke has lower sulphur content than any other combustible, up to this time its insufficient hardness has been an obstacle to its application in blast-furnace operation. This fault, it is claimed, is now overcome, and a hard, strong, and pure coke is now obtained. A German chemist has proved by analysis that IOOO tons of air-dried peat will produce 400 tons of coke, 4o tons of tar, and 400 tons of tarry liquids. The tar can be further distilled to yield I8 tons of crude oil, two tons of creosote, two tons of pitch, and eight tons of paraffin. T h e t a r r y liquids will yield four tons of sulphate of ammonium, six tons of acetate of lime, and two tons methyl alcohol. It is estimated that there will be a profit of 9 ° c. (centimes ?) on every ton of peat so treated.