Station, where some interesting experiments were carried out on its use for boiler firing and for carbonization. The peat, when it reached the station, contained about 27% of moisture. After having been kept under cover for some months the moisture was reduced to about 17 per cent. This peat is in the form of hard blocks of various lengths, up to about 10 in. with a cross section of something like 2 by 2 inches. Its density is rather under i, or about twice that of the ordinary hand-cut sods made on the same bog. The blocks can be cut and sawn like hard wood, and they stand transport with very little breaking up into " smalls." In this respect they contrast very favourably with the ordinary hand-cut sods, which break down seriously in transport by rail or road. Steam-raising trials have shown that this material is an excellent boiler fuel, and that it lends itself admirably to carboni- zation, either in vertical retorts at temperatures between 750 and 85oC. or in steel retorts at 550 to 6ooC.
It is evident that maceration of the freshly cut or dredged peat is well worth the small expenditure of power which it entails. When spread on the surface of the bog it dries much more quickly than ordinary cut peat, while in drying a shrinkage occurs which almost doubles the density of the dried product and so produces a fuel which can be stored, transported and used under much more favourable conditions than the ordinary air-dried sods.
Alcohol. In view of the threatened shortage of petrol in England in 1918, Mr. Walter Long appointed a committee to consider the possibilities of alcohol as a motor fuel (see ALCOHOL). The report of this committee was considered by the Privy Council Committee for Scientific and Industrial Research, and it was recommended that the Fuel Research Board should be charged with the duty of investigating the technical and economic problems which are involved. As a first step to this end Sir Frederick Nathan was appointed Power Alcohol Investigation Officer. A preliminary survey was published in July loao. 1
For the complete replacement of imported petrol by alcohol it was estimated that 250 million gallons of 95% alcohol would be required. To produce this from grain (barley), potatoes or mangolds, the following quantities would be necessary:
Investigations as to the possibilities of producing alcohol in the British Empire overseas indicate that, in the sugar-growing countries, molasses, from which alcohol might be obtained, is undoubtedly wasted, but that the wasted quantities are com- paratively small, and in most cases would be insufficient, if so utilized, to meet even local requirements for alcohol. Alcohol might be made from suitable crops grown specially for the purpose in those British dominions and colonies where labour is available, and used to supplement or take the place of supplies from other sources. Some such course may be specially desirable where petrol is dear and difficult to obtain, for instance in the E. African protectorates and W. African colonies, which are very dependent on motor transport for their development.
The use of cellulosic materials was not yet possible in 1921, because although research work was in hand to find a process that could be employed on a commercial scale in those regions where such materials exist in sufficient abundance, it had not so far led to any definite results. Where, however, materials capable of easy hydrolysis exist, as for instance is the case with waste rice straw, the large-scale experiments in Burma, under the auspices of the Burma Oil Co., appear to indicate that the joint produc- tion of alcohol and paper should be a commercial possibility.
Until alcohol can be made from waste materials which can be collected and treated at small cost, it does not seem likely that British Empire-produced alcohol can be imported into the United Kingdom on any considerable scale; it is improbable that it will be produced cheaply enough, or in sufficient quantities, for export, even by those overseas portions of the Empire which may produce it in this way for local consumption.
USES OF COAL AS FUEL
Since coal is likely to remain the chief source of fuel for the world at large, the problems of its winning, preparation and use still occupy the foreground in all serious consideration of the subject. We know that in 1913 the output of coal of the mines of the United Kingdom was approximately 287 million tons, of which 98 million tons were exported. Out of the 189 million tons
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Tons
Acres
Raw Material
Required
for 250
million
gallons
United Kingdom Production 1919
Required for 250 million gallons
Under Crop in 1919
Average Price per ton 1919
Cost per gallon of Alcohol
Grain (barley) .... Potatoes
Mangolds . .
4,170,000 12,500,000 25,000,000
1,288,035 6,312,000 7,769,000
5-593-293 2,118,644 1,282,513
1,870,087 1,218,774 471-759
, s. d.
21 40
8 10 6 I 10 o
s. d. 6 o 8 6 3 o
These figures were not encouraging, and generally it may be stated that the production of alcohol in any considerable quanti- ties from vegetable materials grown in the United Kingdom is not economically possible, owing to (i) insufficient acreage; (2) the high cost of cultivation and harvesting; (3) the high cost of manufacture; and (4) the fact that the most suitable raw materi- als are also important food-stuffs. There was for these reasons no prospect in England of replacing any considerable quantity of petrol by home-produced alcohol. Moreover, it was unthinkable that land, for even a fraction of the quantity of the raw materials in the foregoing table, could be used for such a purpose when, for food itself, a week-end supply only was assured from the home production. It was, however, considered desirable to make a further study of the growth of mangolds and of Jerusalem arti- chokes for this purpose, and experiments were in progress during 1919-21. From these it appeared that it might be possible to grow artichokes for the supply of a limited quantity of alcohol for special purposes, such as aviation. An examination of the artichoke stems indicated that it might be possible to convert them by a simple treatment to paper pulp. Should this prove to be the case, both products would be cheapened.
1 " Fuel for Motor Transport ": an Interim Memorandum by the Fuel Research Board.
consumed at home, 35 million tons represented the domestic use, and the remainder was taken fo'r industries as follows:
Million Tons 15-0
2-5 60-0 20-5
31-0
1-3
5-8 18-0
Railways
Coasting Steamers
Factories
Mines
Iron and Steel
Other Metals
Brickwork, Potteries, Glass and Chemicals Gasworks
The uses of coal as fuel may be classed under three main heads: (i) production of heat and light for domestic purposes; (2) production of heat for industrial purposes; (3) production of power for industrial purposes and for transport. Reclassifying the above figures under these three heads, we find that the consumption was as follows:
(i.) HEAT and LIGHT for domestic purposes.
Directly burnt as coal _ .
One-third of the total used by gas undertakings One-half of the total used by electrical undertakings
Million Tons
35 6
JJ
44
