The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-09-13

making, both as a disintegrating ant
a bleaching agent.
Plainly II is of economic importance
that the sulphur dioxide now going Il
waste from belching stacks be con
served in large part and turned into
useful channels. The electrical pre-
cipitator makes this possible.
Even Gases Handled.
| In dealing with noxious or objec'
tionable gases not necessarily harmful
new aspect of precipitation arises
The electrical treater can handle only
fluids or substances in the shape OF
particles and cannot cause the pre-
cipitation of gases, per Sc. But these
gases can be made to condense upon
mists in the form of steam or finely
sprayed water or upon extremely fine
powder or dust purposely thrown into
the sweep of the gases to effect this
In this way it is possible to deal with
varied conditions and to abate null
sances that bid fair to cause the shut
down or removal of costly plants.
In dealing with dust alone the first
direct effort along this line had to do
with a Portland cement plant near
Riverside, Cal. An electrical treater
was installed there early in 1912 by
way of experiment, and three years
later was collecting something like a
hundred tons of dust daily. Prior to
that the dust had been scattered
broadcast and settled upon the groves
of adjacent orange growers, leading to
extensive litigation. Analysis of the
recovered dust disclosed the presence
of an appreciable percentage of potash,
but this attracted no marked attention
at the time. Since then, particularly
now that it Is no longer possible for
us to get potash from our prime source,
Germany, this element so. essential to
balanced plant food is in great de-
mand.
On March last the Riverside &C.
ment company started full blast to
actually create dust as its first con-
Ger min order to recover the potash
which previously had been only by
product in the manufacture Of cement.
AS an investigator for the bureau of
mines reports:
This is certainly a romantic de-
Ia Of in 1Sfr
an apparatus installed for the purpose
of saving the life of the factory turns
out to be the center of operations
around which the entire plant is ad-
justdd."
The cement becomes for the nonce
the by-product and the profits on the
potash furnish an ample revenue,
while the cement Is just so much ad-
ditional gain.
Any one at all familiar with the
average cement plant and the gray
powdered appearance of the nearby
territory can realize the boon that
would be conferred by the general
adoption of electrical precipitators not
only in preventing the escape OF the
dust but in saving the potash which
is so much desired. Again the abate-
ment in this way of coal smoke, where
communities are affected, may be made
a source of revenue. The precipitated
carbon, or SCOT, can be utilized in part
at least and it is said that an excellent
form of protective paint can be made
from the stuff as a base. Alsoe cleo
trical separation of tar from coal gas
| is possible, and lately it has beer
proved that potash can be recovered II
paying quantities as a by-product from
blast furnaces.
In and about New York city today
there are five electrical treaters doint
excellent work on large scale, some
of them recovering valuable by-prod'
ucts and others abating nuisances tina
had bid fair to cause the shutdown Of
removal of the industries. The fac
that precipitators of this sort are nov
available will make it practicable t.
save Riverside drive from the objec
tional discharges from the stacks o
the chemical factories on the othe
side of the Hudson. So, too, parts o
Staten island that now suffer from
kindred inconvenience. If not damage
from certain large metallurgical plants
close by in New Jersey may be savet
from further annoyance by the install
ing of treaters at these establishments
DR.. Cottrell probably did not realiz'
the full significance of his laborator!
experiments twelve years ago at tn
University of California, and this nee
essarily brief review of what has fol
lowed since may not make the poten
tial field of application manifest. Blu
it is estimated by those familiar will
the subject and conversant with thu
flexibility Of the treater that the posi-
BILE benefits may easily be estimated
away up in the millions in money. II
finding means to arrest sulphuric ACT
mist DR.. Cottrell opened a way to al
order Of conservation of twofold i'm
portance, first, the direct benefit t
man and vegetation by the abatemen
of smoke and dust and fume, and, mex
the recovery of values garnered from
the wasteful outpourings Of belchin
| ocfa nj,