No. 1165 THE RATIONAL UTILIZATION OF LOW GRADE FUELS WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF THE APPLICATION OF GAS PRODUCERS BY F. E. JUNGE, BERLIN, GERMANY Member Verein deutscher Ingenieure GEOLOGICAL RETROSPECTION It has been estimated by Liebig that the quantity of dry organic matter which is produced by one hectar of farm land, or meadow, or forest, in middle Europe, is approximately the same, namely, 2.5 tons per annum. The output varies according to climatic conditions and geographical location, being larger in the tropics and smaller in the arctics and in the desert regions. Of these organic substances, which consist chiefly of cellulose (C,H,Os), 40 per cent is carbon, so that, theoretically, the total annual coal production from vegetable materials amounts to 13 000 million tons, which is not quite fifteen times the quantity of coal actually consumed in the world's industries. 10 2 The assimilation of vegetable matter, or the formation of hydrocarbons, is accompanied by an absorption of carbon dioxide CO2, from the air, while oxygen O2, is liberated. If all plants were to accumulate their solar energy in the form of coal our atmosphere would soon be deprived of its CO, contents, since about one-fiftieth of the total. amount is thus required. So nature has provided that only a fraction of one per cent of the theoretical coal formation is actually reserved in the form of peat, lignite, bituminous coal, anthracite, oil and natural gas for the benefit of mankind. The rest emanates through natural deterioration in the form of gas and reënters the cosmic cycle. as carbon dioxide. 3 In contrast to this continuous process of slow combustion stands the exploiting of the world's fuel materials for men's domestic Presented at the New York Meeting (December 1907) of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and forming part of Volume 29 of the Transactions. and public utilities and comforts. The kinetic energy of coal which the quiet evolution of centuries has gradually stored up in the sedimentary layers of the earth's crust, is squandered lavishly day by day at an increasing rate of consumption, and hardly 5 per cent of its total calorific value is regained as heat, or light, or power. One thousand million tons of coal, and more, which are thus used in the world's industrial pursuits per annum, return to the atmosphere 1/600th part of their CO2 contents in the form of exhaust products, and exercise an influence on the temperature conditions of the earth far greater than is usually suspected. 4 The same oxygen that was formed as a by-product of the assimilation of plants millenniums ago is now extracted from the atmosphere in order to support combustion of the carbonized products in boilers, furnaces and gas generators. Its total quantity corresponds approximately to the weight of fossil coal which is accumulated in the sedimentary strata. Atmospheric nitrogen, N, the third element of importance, owing to its chemical inertia, has very likely remained unchanged in the course of time. ECONOMIC ASPECTS 5 The question whether an exhaustion of what we have termed our irreplaceable fuel resources is a danger for the life and prosperity of future generations, can only be discussed on the basis of theoretical prognostications and speculative arguments. The other question, whether for the benefit of present activities it is wise to economize in the methods of utilization of these resources, cannot be answered but in the affirmative. 6 That individual, or company, or nation will be superior, commercially, to others which can get the most efficient service from the cheapest reliable source of labor, whether manual or mechanical. Never is superior talent engaged for low class work, if there is an alternative available to get adequate help at low prices. Likewise it is but a matter of political prudence for a nation to exploit the low grade fuel materials of the country, such as peat, dust coals and refuse, if they can be used for the generation of heat, light and power, instead of wasting anthracite and coke, and to reserve the latter coals for more profitable and important uses in the metallurgical and other industries. An efficient utilization of coal, generally speaking, tends toward the preservation of national values, making a country self supporting and independent on the world's markets. It also aids the prevention of hygienic abuses which, if not amended, are apt prematurely to weaken the earning capacity and the industrial activity of a nation. 7 The conservation of the higher grades and the utilization of the inferior classes of coal has still another aspect to it, namely, that of industrial expansion over territories which were hitherto undeveloped and of no direct value to their owners. All industries depend for their existence on the availability of some form of energy. Nor is water power, which with proper utilization can now be had almost everywhere in the world, always the agent best suited for certain. purposes. Thus iron and steel works depend on the continuous supply of high grade fuels such as anthracite, coke and charcoal for the stability of their production. Where these are not available the richest ore reserves are practically worthless. Either the fuel must be transported to the ore or the ore to the fuel. 8 But transportation itself, whether using steam or electricity or gas as motive power, depends largely on the availability of coal to support it, and the cheaper the fuel can be supplied the better for the railroads, for the industries and for all concerned. In those cases, and there are not few, where conditions of service have grown beyond the capacity of steam locomotives, and where electrification of trunk lines connecting great centers of population and industry is becoming an economic necessity, there the large interest on the initial capital outlay for the new equipment must be offset by a saving in fuel cost, which is by far the largest single item of operating expense. 9 So from whatever point of view we look at the problem, it remains a matter of the greatest economic importance to find methods. and means for utilizing the enormous stretches of lignite and peat lands, especially those located in the neighborhood of large undeveloped bodies of rich ore which abound in remote districts of the United States and elsewhere, and, either to transform the raw coals into some form of available energy which can be transmitted over long distances at reasonable cost, or to refine the low grade fuels into superior products such as brickets, or coke, or chemicals, that they may serve as a basis for other industries to grow upon and to prosper. The question which remains to be settled then is not whether we should use the inferior classes of coal, but how we can use them most efficiently. 10 The effect in a country like the United States of an enormous wealth of natural resources and of an extensive inland market which is protected against foreign competition by high tariff rates is, naturally, to advance the formation of great trust-like combines, to promote large scale production and to favor the standardization of man ufacturing methods, which in turn bring large remunerative returns to a few favored individuals, resulting in a rapid accumulation of capital such as is, admittedly, unparalleled in the world. But, at the same time, an ample supply and an ease of disposal of raw materials and finished goods are apt somewhat to diminish the individual and coöperative endeavor of industrial circles toward the attainment of economic excellence in the utilization of inferior products and of such as promise no immediate large returns on the capital invested for their exploitation. On the other hand, scarcity of supply and the necessity to face competition and the urgency to conquer markets at home and abroad, will justify and promote every legitimate effort on the part of manufacturers and consumers, aided by a judicious administration, to procure the best service from the lowest grade of sufficiency. 11 It is evident, therefore, in some smaller European countries. for instance in Germany, where we are supporting over sixty million active people on a territory four-fifths the size of Texas, and where the available fuel resources, especially the high grade ones, are quite inadequate to meet the demand, that the art of utilizing inferior classes of coal, or oil, or refuse must have been cultivated to a higher degree than anywhere else. Thus the very poverty of a country becomes ultimately a source of income to its inhabitants by stimulating the manufacture and the sale of highly efficient apparatus, machinery and processes, and even of skilled talent, to foreign people and markets. 12 Hence it seems reasonable to conclude further-with due consideration in the different countries of the geographical, economical and governmental differences and of the differing industrial policies -that the evolution of that branch of industry with which we are here concerned will take, in the large and scarcely populated countries, a course similar to the development it has taken in those that have to support the largest number of people per square mile of area. 13 With these and other considerations in mind it would seem a very wise policy of President Roosevelt's administration to aim toward preventing the passing of the coal lands of the United States into private ownership and the control of corporations. Of the It is interesting to observe that 25 per cent of the business wealth of America is now under corporate control, and that seven eighths of the country's wealth, seven hundred billions, is owned by less than one per cent of the population. 2 It is estimated that already about one-half the total area of high grade coal lands in the West is under private control. Only 30 000 000 acres are left for the Administration to take action upon. advantages claimed for the proposed leasing system there are three that bear closely on the subject with which this paper is purported to deal: (1) Government control will prevent waste in the extraction and handling of fuels. (2) It will permit the Government to reserve from general use fuels especially suitable for metallurgical and other special industries. (3) It will enable the Government to protect the public against unreasonable and discriminating charges for fuel supplies." 14 Turning to the technical aspects of the problem, it is opportune first to get a clear idea of the meaning or the signification of the term low grade coal. What does it imply? There is no standard of designation to refer to and none to establish. We cannot graduate the place allotted to each fuel by its relative heat value, nor can we fix its rank in the scale according to the measure of volatiles contained. The transvaluation of by-product values to adopt an expression of Kant's-that is, the constant change in the appraising of, or in the amount of returns realized from the sale of chemical and other by products which are gained from the various coals, and the constant improvements made in the refining and briquetting of raw materials, make it impossible to define clearly the limits below which a coal becomes inferior. 15 If, owing to their low carbon, high moisture and high ash contents, we speak of lignites and peats as of low grade coals, we are fol lowing traditional customs rather than plain facts based on recent developments. Likewise there are conditions under which the smaller screenings or sizes of a high class lean coal may rank equal or lower in monetary value-for instance coke-dust and anthracite-dust which sell at about one-tenth of the price that corresponds to their heat value than the fuels quoted above. It is only refuse such as culm banks and other waste, which are obtained in very large quantities. in coal mining pursuits and which hitherto escaped utilization entirely owing to their excessive ash contents (up to 65 per cent), that we can rightly speak of as low grade coals, since both their contents of fixed carbon and of volatile hydro-carbons is small. EFFECT OF ASH, MOISTURE AND VOLATILES 16 Generally speaking, ash and moisture in coal have the disadvantage that they displace valuable combustible matter, thereby For detailed information refer to the author's works on "Gas Power," Hill Publishing Company, New York. |