The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-04
COAL ASHES AS FUEL. USING oxAL1c ACID. Prof. Reardon Gives Chen1i- cal Effect of the Various
 Agents Used.

Alluding to the recent sensational ao- counts ot magic fluids that will cause ashes to burn like coal, T. H. Rear don tells us in the Western Electrician that efforts to use ashes as fuel are be- lated Whatever fuel value the ashes may have resides in the unburned coal that they contain, and it would bc more economical to consume this be- fore it reaches the ash-pile than to adopt measures to utilize it after it gets there. Says MT. Reardon: Tt is unfortunate that the eombusti6le in fuel is not burned as completely as it should be, and any efforts that are di- rected in an intelligent way to reduce this waste to a minimum are worthy of emulation, The methods .hat are in vogue at the present time. and that are giving such remarkable results in the hands of the non-technical, accord ing to the reports in the daily papers of the burning of ashes, seem 70 be applied in a very inconsistent manner. The object is more completely to burn the combustible in the coal; and many are directing their efforts toward this end with various degree of success; but the logically correct method is .3 secure this result before the combusti- ble drops through the grate and goes into the ash-pan.
 Tt should be understood that the combustible which drops through the grate before 1t is burned involves a loss that is twofold in character, In the first place, we may consider the heat units which have not been solved owing to the fact that the combustible has not been burned; in the next place when this residue leaves the grate il ! has a temperature, approximately, as great as that of the fire from which il has just separated. The time to apply the remedy is before the residue drops through the grate, as after this has | occurred it involves q second handling of the material, together with the fact that this residue, if used as fuel in 8 second operation, must regain from some source the heat units given uI 10 the surroundings during the time that the residue has been cooling. The combustion of fuel can be made more l perfect by adopting any one or more oi several expedients, always bearing ir mind, however, that the results secur. 1 ed must be worth more than the money expended for this purpose. Thi: | Is simply common sense.
 The effect of using such agents a! | free oxygen, oxygen salts, potassium nitrate potassium chlorate, etc., art | welt understood, and will not receive I extended mention here. It may bt worth while, however, to consider tht ] probable effect of salt Sodium chlorid NaCD. oxalic acid, and water-the for mula which is being widely circulated by the lay press at the present time Salt is not known to exercise any ben ehoial effect on hydr6carbon combus tion; 1t is known to promote the fusioi of silicates at high temperatures, am one result, which has been noted al ready by those who have put the abov formula to a rough-and-rea test the great facility with which clinker are formed. Tn regard to tn use of oxalio acid, this compound whel heated breaks up, disengaging carbol dioxid and carbon monoxid. The car bon monoxid has a fiel value; that is in burning 1t takes up another aton of oxygen; but as this gas 1t derive solely from the decomposition of tn oxalic acid, any heat derived from thi source cannot be placed to the credi of the ash-pile.
 Water" MT. Reardon goes on to say has no fuel value, but some coal swhe wet will burn better than If 1t wer dry. The water holds finely -pulverize coal together until the mass cakes wit the heat, and the steam that is form cd leaves the coal porous and facili tates the passage of the flame. Tn advantage gained in this way nor than compensates for the loss of hea which the use of the water entails, MT. Reardon concludes;
 In the writer's opinion, the mos valuable constituent In the ash-burn ing formula is the water; that can b obtained at the least expense. The us of water in locomotive firing and stationary firing also, in the case c finely divided soft coal, has been prac ticed for a great many years, and tn particular benefit which results fror It's use is fully demonstrated and we understood.
 'The man who tries to reclaim some thing from the ash-pile Is late, yer late and he is using the pound of cur Instead of the ounce of prevention. is not intended to imply that there no coal in the ash-pile to recover, bu rather to lay stress on the fact tha the greater wisdom would seem to | in the effort to keep the unburned cos from going into the ash-pile instea of making such strenuous efforts to re claim it after it has gone there, "--Lit