Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-06-13
COAL BRIQUETTING
EXPERIMENTS B YTHE UNITED
STATES GEOLOGICAL SUR
VEY ALONG THIS LINE.

b . - y !
The utilization Of the slack coal
resulting from the processes Of min
Ing, transportation of and handling,
and from exposure 70 the product
to weather is recognized by econo-
n1ists as one of the most serious
problems connected with the fuel in
dustry. The, slack from Coal suita-
BILE for the production of coke pre-
SCENTS no difficulty, as it is in demand
for that purpose; and that from coal
that does not coke but cakes rather
readily can also be used under boil
ers without great loss. But slack
from coal that cakes less readily
can be burned only in CRATES of spec
ial construction and even when so
used it is troublesome to handle
and waste is much greater than
when lump coal is burned. 1t is,
of course, possible to obtain the full
value of this slack coal as fuel by
first forming it into a coherent mass
or briquets. That properly made
briquets may have greater fuel val
ue than the original lump coal from
which the slack was derived is indi-
Gated by their use in the locomotiv-
es on the State railways of France
and Belgium when heavy grade,
load, or speed requires the maxi
mum effect of traction. Twenty live
per cent of the fuel used by the
Belgium State railroad department,
which operates 90 per cent of the
railways of the kingdom, is in the
form Of briquets. With so great a
demand for the product It is. but
natural that the briquet industry in
these foreign countries should have
reached high stage Of development.
In the United States progress has
been slower, chiefly because Of the
abundant supply Of cheap raw fuel
with which the manufactured article
has to compete. With millions OF
acres of coal-producing lands in
which the coal can in most places be
cheaply mined, it has appeared in
many districts to be more economical
to waste the slack than to attempt
to recover it at the additional ex-
pense required for briqueting. For
this reason large tracts In the an
thracite coal region of Pennsylvania
are covered by unsightly culm
banks, and in bituminous coal reg
ions huge piles of unmarketable
slack are allowed to burn in order
to get rid Of them. Many thousands
of tons of what might be convert
ed into disable fuel are therefore
wasted every year.
For the purpose of determining the
extent to which the manufacture OF
briquents from slack coal may sue
coed under conditions existing in
the United States an investigation
has been carried on at the fuel-test
ing plant Of the United States Geo
logical Survey at st. Louis by NJ
Jmaes E. Mills. whose report on flt
work has just bern pn';s:sned by til.
survey as buIle in Oh; The prob
lem to be solved was no. alone how
to make the best possible a.lquet
but how to produe at a profit /
briquet Of satisfactory grade for th,
use intended with the slack and bind
ers available. The experiments mad,
by Mr.. Mills include tests OF tn,
behavior Of a large number Of diff
ferent Goals with few binders ant
Of a few Goals with large humble
Of binders. Tests were made will
each coal and with each oinder IN
til the percentage Of binder require
j To- produce q satisfactory briqne
/ with that coal was determined. Til