South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-01-02
PULYERIZED COAL
EFFECTIVE MEANS
OF SAYING FUEL
Need for Conservation Point
ed Out in January Com
merce Magazine.

Necessity for conservation Of coal
resources and development OF sub
stitute fuels makes the increasing
use Of puiverized coa' one of much
economic Importance i- is pointed
out By the National Bank Of Com
merCe In New York. iu the January
number Of its magazine. Commerce
Monthly. Experimentation the bank
says. shows that by the use of pull
verized coal. q saving Of % per
cent in heating efficiency. and from
90 70. 80 per cent in consumption Us
possible
The fundamental economic adj
vantage in burning uuiFerlZed coal
lies iu the complete stage TO which
combustion Is carried in the fur
mace" says Commerce Monthly.
THE contact surface between coal
and air f. greatly increased by split
ting the coal into numerous par-I-
Giles Of small size The second adj
vantage in the puIvcrization of solid
fuel is the fact DO floats in the air.
spreads and IS carried of by even
small air currents This makes the
intimate mixture OF coal and afr
very easy IL simplifes the con-
struction OF burners and guarantees
economical combustion. The finer
the coal powder the more nearly
IDEAL conditions for complete COM
DusiiOn are approached
Need Proper Apparatus
Where proper apparatus and
methods are in use. however. other
more tangible economists are eff
fected by the use OF powdered fuel
The labor cost Of firing is material
~ lowered and losses during short
required are reduced 20 "a minimum.
No air is allowed 10 pass through
the furnace when firing operations
stop. so that radiant heat of the
furnace is absorbed 10y the boiler,
avoiding she losses which occur
with CRATES or stOkers through the
constant burning up OF fuel and i'm
complete combustion Of the gases
generated from banked fires. The
time necessary to get up steam is
reduced bv half when pulverized
coal is substituted for the same fuel
I'm lump form Recent experiments
also show an economy i'm fuel con-
sumption which is said TO Doe as
high as 80 per cent
Until very recently the impress
sion has prevailed that only certain
grades OF bituminOus coal were suit
able for powderiuE. All the most
recent developments I'm the use Of
powdered coal as a fuel for steam
generating plants have been made
with anthracite Culm az one time
definitely abandoned as "a fuel suit
able for powdering. High volatile
soft coal gives best results. but mix
lures OF such a grade Of coal with
anthracite culm have proved en-
tircly satisfactory and pulverizatiou
may hc applied to amy solid fuel
peat Ignite or bitumuous coal of
any grade. ass well as anthracite and
coke.
"Pulverizcd coal has obtained
growing recognition as the most
satisfactory fuel for rcveroertory
furnaces by reason of the loss and
uuisances arising from Uuc dust i'm
blast furnace smelling. ass wen ass
the better fuel ratio and tonnage
obtained with the new type Of fuel
Although the practice dates back
only To- the last 3 years it is now
estimated that a saving of 100000
tons of coal per 100000 tons of
charge Smelted is made annually iu
the United States. Pulvcrized coal
i'm the mass is rot explosive nor
highly comhustiblc.
Fuel oil Fails.
For "a time fuel oil seemed dcs-
tined TO replace coal Jon many i'm
dustrial uses and 80 has done so To-
20 considerable extent But The
great increase IN the output of fuel
oil I'M recent years has been through
the discovery of new sources of
supply Many OF the early d!scov-
cred fields have begun 90 exhibit %
decided decrease in production due
20 the exhaustion of the available
supply. and the increased cost of
fuel oil I'm the districts supplied
from these fields has i'm some cases
made II necessary for industrial
consumers 10 turn again To- coal
The economic Importance there
fore. Of conserving the present
workable supplies OF high grade
coal and OF making available the
vast and almost untouched reserves
of low grade fuel which are known
to exist near the surface in many
parts OF the globe. make the pro-
gress i'm the use of powdered or pull
verified coal during the past decade
of special significance
During the calendar year 1919
it is estimated that between 10000.
GEO and IL. 600. 600 tons OF coal were
pulverized for industrial C0usump-
ton. OF this amount 100000 tons
were consumed ira the making of
Portland cement. 100000 tons