Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-30
CONVERTING PEAT INTO COAL
An Artificial Fuel Produced by Means Of
Electricity.
THE SUPPLY OF iREAT lNtxHAusTIBlt
German Process OF Considernbie
Importance in Developing In
dustrics In Countries Hith-
erto Apriculturnl.

| n pTOCtSS lOT COuNtTllub pebt luNO SOdi
has just been perfected in Germany. To be
explicit. by means of an electric current,
turf can be turned into coke. having an eff
cheney equal to the best coal 1t is capable
| OF attaining to white heat and the product
can be manufactured and sold with good
| profit at 10 cents the hundred pounds, or
| about S2.20 a ton. A retort holding 1900
| liters can be prepared in Is minutes. The
| amount OF ash in this coke is only 3 per
cent. The calorifc value is 1000 units; that
is as much as coal. 1t is easily lighted and
contains but very little sulphur. 1t is in
fact discovery the Importance of which
cannot be overestimated ireland, for in
stance, with its great wealth OF peat, would
be converted from farming into fuel
producing country. So would Nantucket and
many parts of the United States aud Canada
In short, since peat is found all over the
world, and as the process of making peat
in nature is actively going on, this discov-
cry might seem 10 solve the great fuel ques-
ton or account of the perceptible diminu-
tion OF the coal supply,
ANTICIPATING NATURE.
The feasibility of increasing the calo
rife value of peat has appealed to many
inventors, and many attempts have been
made to accomplish 1t, but until now all
have been failures. necessary part of such
an operation has been the drying out of the
substance. Peat is spongy and highly i'm
pregnated with moisture. 1t is, in fact,
nothing more nor less than partly formed
coal. 1t Is vegetable matter in semi-decom-
posed state, or, to be more exact, substance
intermediate between common vegetable mat
ter and bitumious Ignite. Left to itself peat
would, under certain conditions and after
the lapse Of sufficient time, become coal.
Following out the theory of some scientists
that coal Is the result Of partly combusted
vegetable matter 1t will be seen that this
new electrical process is but the simple an
ticipation of the work OF nature. Electricity
hastens an operation which 1t would have
taken Dame Nature centuries to perform.
During the first part OF the present century
company was formed in Ireland for the
purpose of doing by mechanical means that
which is now 20 be done by electricity The
scheme was not success owing to the fact
that the conversion Of the peat could not
be accomplished economically on a large
scale. The peat was dried by means of heated
iron plate, and 1t was compressed and held
together In blocks by means of the attraction
OF cohesion. The trouble, however, was to
accomplish the heating or drying out
operation at small cost for the perfected
product is not in itself substance which
can be sold for high price
Nothing could be more simple from the
producers standpoint than the electrical pro-
cess. The peat is placed in any desirable
quantity AL &c WHlCu lot tue HlOSt
part resemble ordinary retorts, except in
that they are provided with a spiral wire
which extends through the center of them
The wire comprises the electrical feature
OF the retort An electric current of
strength sufficient to bring the wire to a
white heat is sent through 1t. The retorts
otherwise are lined with asbestos. In the
oven thus formed the drying out of the peat
not only becomes inevitable, but the con-
version Of the vegetable matter is hastened
and 1t becomes in fact coke. As stated above,
a retort having capacity of 300 liters will
produce that amount of coke in fifteen min
utes and inasmuch as its caloriic value is
1000 units its commercial value becomes very
great. Average air-dried peat has a
caloriic value of from 5000 to
by a heat Of 100 degrees centigrade
and with minimum Of to 8 per cent of
ash the calorifc value rises to about $500
units, or from one-quarter to one-half more
than that of an equal weight of wood.
PEAT BOGS IN IRELAND.
The value of peat as fuel consists not
only in its highly inflammable quality, but in
the abundance in which it is found There
is almost no limit to the supply, particularly
as the process of it's formation is yet going
on. Ireland may be said to constitute the
most available source of supply, and under
a system which would put the substance
in general commercial use 1t would be to
the Emerald isle what coal has been to
England. Ireland Is calculated to possess
100000 acres, about one-seventh of it's en-
tire surface. of peat bogs. 1t is frequently
found in layers thirty feet thick, and occa-
sionally even this thickness is surpassed 1t
would indeed be strange II ireland finally be-
came enriched by the very agency which
from time inmemorial has rendered much
OF her surface unfit for agricultural purposes
TO be sure, the ashes resulting from the
burning OF peat possesses wonderful feriliz-
ing Qualities aud because of this they have