The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-08-16
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKr& Director,
Washington, d. Q.
PEAT FUEL POSSIBILITIES.

use of the natural peat deposits in
I this continent as a substitute for or a
supplement to coal and fuel oil is pos
sible as a result of the development
of the deposits in Minnesota, and
the perfection of machines to make
the raw peat good heat producing
material 1t is estimated that there
are 100000 acres of peat bearing
land in this country, and 10000, 000
acres in Canada. On the land in the
| United States there are thirteen bill
lion tons of peat, with more than half
of the supply conferred in Minnesota
One of the difficulties which has
always stood in the way of using this
material as commercial fuel has been
! getting the moisture out of it so that
! it would be approximately as good as
Local. Machines are now in operation
which go far toward accomplishing
this end.
H. w Richardson, meteorologist
| and official weather forecaster for
| the region around Duluth, Mimi, has
made a study of the peat question for
a number of years, and believes that
| its use as fuel is entirely practical be-
cause of the low cost that improved
mathods of cutting and drying make
possible. A long series of tests has
been made, and while it was found
THAT Jumps of coal were better than
| Jumps of peat as fuel, due to the
amount of moisture retained by the
I lump peat, crushed and atomized peat
was found to be about equal to crush
! ed coal in the units of heat produced.
| Crushing coal before feeding it into
! the fires of factories has been found
/ to be efficacious and economical, re-
\ sulting in economy in the amount OF
| fuel needed for the production OF any
particular amount of heat energy, ana
an additional saving in that the coal
could be fed into furnaces exactly as
/ required, an impossibility with lump
coal
| Atomized coal or peat is fed into
the furnaces after being mixed with
air, the mixture being Jfloated or
| waited into the fires without substan-
tial pressure to form the feeding
stream of air. Crushing coal for fuel
purposes is a growing industry, one
concern in Minneapolis alone crushing
over 500 tons of coal daily for nearby
being started at Duluth and its neigh
boring city, Superior, Wisconsin.
Must Use Machines
In turning to the American peat
supply for fuel. it was realized that
the use of laborers for digging and
drying peat was out of the question,
as it would make the cost of produc-
ton so high that the product could
not be marketed. Peat dug mechani-
caIly and dried by artificial heat or
chemicals was out of the question also,
it was found, as the margin of profit
between producing cost and marketing
price must necessarily be small. Ma
chimes were perfected, therefore, and
are in use and declared to be success
full and practical which will dig up
the peat, pulverize it and lay it out in
flat strips for drying, all in>one opera
ton. These machines, it is claimed,
can prepare the peat fuel at a cost less
than 81 per ton. and a great market
is open to this fuel at the low price
now possible.
Peat is nothing more than decom-
posed or partly decomposed vegetable
matter occurring where still, but not
stagnant, water has been in the past
The peat occurs also underneath still
standing water. The depth of the peat
deposits will range from five to ninety
feet, that nearest the top being lighter
and less decomposed than the lower
layers.
In it's natural state peat contains as
high as 80 per cent of moisture, and
the problem of making the. substance
commercially valuable as fuel is to
eliminate as much as possible of this
moisture. Artificial heat has been
used successfully-the peat being put
thru a9kind of baking process, but this
is too expensive to make the finished
product an economical fuel. Chem
icaIs have been used successfully, but
this also makes the fuel cost too much
money when it j. ready for use. Out
of the necessity for cheap but ex-
cellent method of preparing peat for
fuel the Garnett system was devel-
oped.
The Garnett machine runs over the
peat deposit, lifting a continuous
broad slice of peat into itself as it
moves forward. This peat is macer-
ated and mixed with water Until the
combination has about the consist
ency Of tar or thick paint. This mix
ture is discharged by the machine in
ribbons, three o. four inches thick,
with just enough consistency to retain
it's shape while drying in the open air.
When air drying is complete, the re-
sultant slabs have their moisture con-
tent reduced to IS per cent or less.
In this slab form it can be used as
fuel in the home or in factories, but
when it is ground up and made into
atomized fuel still better results are
obtained.
Much Money I'm Peat.
It is figured that this fuel peat, COM
mercially dry and loaded on cars for
delivery, will cost only $3.50 per ton.
1t is hoped that the cost will never
run above 50 per ton. Then, if the
whole peat supply in the United States
were valued at a selling price of SO. SO
per ton, to include a profit for pro-
ducing it and transportation charges,
the total wealth represented in the
peat beds of the country is the stu
deposits in Minnesota alone would rep
resent $24 100000, a sum almost
equal to the cost Of the world war
to the United States.
Where the peat deposit is only five
feet thick, the yield of peat is a thou
sand tons of commercially dry peat to
the acre. Over a large area 80 miles
northwest of Duluth the peat deposit
is ninety feet thick, which means that
the yield per acre will be $4,000 tons
The Garnett process enables one ma
chine to make from three to five tons1
of dry peat fuel in an hour. Other
machines are in process of develop
ment. some of them in use. One ma
chine is designed especially for making
the peat into briquettes for home use.
This use of peat is leading to the in
stallation of small peat plants near
communities where there is no great
amount of commercial use for peat
but where households make market
for the flRl saving freight cbarVaS w