Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-07
UTILIZING U. S. PEAT B0GS
SOME EFFORTS MADE TO Elk
PLOT THIS CHEAP FUEL.
Plants Established in New York and
Florida-Briquettes Made for
Easy Transportation.

Inc lmmense areas of peat boys In the
United States still remain practically un-
utilized In the old world peat is largely
used as fuel, but the widespread coal beds
OF this country afford to most localities
fuel so cheap and so abundant that but
slight inducement is offered to the own
ers of peat deposits to exploit their pos
sessions.
The expense of preparing peat for use
as fuel Is considerable, covering five oper-
atoms: namely % digging from bog
either by hand or machine; CD transport
ing In cars or conveying apparatus to
mill; G0 d!sintegrating in mill; G) mold
ing into bricks; 90 drying until the water
is reduced to about 10 or 20 per cent.
company operating in the vicinity of
Orlando, Fla, has departed from this
practice slightly, as 1t now dspenses with
the molding into bricks, simply dumping
the disintegrated peat on the ground and
allowing it to dry in irregular masses
into Jumps. This practice is reported to
give excellent satisfaction and to save
the expense and trouble Of bricking the
wet pulp. 1t has the disadvantage, how
age. Possibly this method would not
work so well in other parts of the United
states as it does in the hot climate of
Florida, but 1t is worth considering as it
effects large saving In the cost OF manu-
facture.
Factory Near ogdensburg.
Another plant established for manu-
featuring peat into fuel Is located at
bog not far from Ogdensburg, N. Y. The
plant is built on a large dredge, and the
progress of the peat through the machine
from the time it leaves the bog until it
is delivered in the form Of br,quettes is
automatic. The bog is located on the east
side OF Black Lake, in a position that
makes dredging operations easy. The peat
Is raised from the bog in bucket con-
veyors, dropped into the hopper Of DIS
integrated machine, passed through
standardized pipes to drive off moisture
and then. while hot, is briquetted under
claims of the company, the product con-
tains less than per cent of moisture.
There seems to be very little doubt that
this plant can successfully produce
brlquettes, but whether they can be made
cheaply enough to compete with Pennsyl-
vania soft coal at % per ton is ques-
ton yet to be answered. II this plant Is
successful its success will perhaps lead to
the utilization of many other peat boys
In northern New York.
Florida machine peat makes an excel
lent fuel for the manufacture of pro-
Queer gas, yielding results fully as good
as Texas anu NOTtn dakota HGniCeS ana
where power is the object sought the
best method Of utilizing the peat seems
to be to convert it into fuel gas.
Many Questions Unsolved.
But. although the tests so far made
demonstrate that the peat can be used
in this way. there are many questions
yet unsolved Probably the most I'M
portant points to be determined are the
maximum amount Of moisture that can
be used in a producer. and whether it is
necessary to disintegrate the peat and
mold it into bricks.
If the manufacture of producer gas
from peat proves to be commercially sue
cessful central power plants will doubt
less be established at the boys. and the
peat thus converted into electricity. which
will be transmitted to points where power
Is required. In this way the cost of
transportation of fuel containing a heavy
percentage of moisture will BE- avoided
and the power will be readily available
in large or small amounts wherever need
ed.