Seward daily gateway., 1927-07-18
MAKING GASOLINE FROM COAL |S NOW
 SCIENTIFIC FACT
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN DESCRIBES PROCESS INVENTED BY DIR.
 FREDEDRlck BERBIUS

ngnlte cOalS may be converted into
 benzine, light and heavy fuel oils,
 phenol compounds and ammonia, the
 Scientific American July number says
 in part:
 "The discovery of how to convert
 coal into liquid products is not lucky
 accident but the achievement of long
 and laborious scientific research, such
 as gave Germany the supremacy in
 the manufacture of indigo and other
 synthetic dyes before the war. Dr.
 Frederick Bergius began his study in
 the composition of coal in 1912 and,
 with the exception of the interruption
 of the war, the investigation has been
 carried on ever since at cost of mil 1 lions of dollars
 "The essential principle of the pro-
 cess consists in combining hydrogen
 gas with coal by means of high heat pressure. The coal is first ground
 into small pieces less than a tenth of
 an inch in diameter, and then mixed
 with heavy oil to a thick pasty mass.
 This is placed in light steel retort and heated to about 800 degrees, l Fahrenheit, under pressure of about 5000 pounds per square inch. Most l of the carbon unites with hydrogen,
 giving a complex mixture of gaseous, those coming from natural wells. In the case of Ignite, low-grade brown
 coal, as much as 99 per cent of the car bon is transformed into such market able products. The nitrogen contain ed in the coal is transformed into am-
 monia or liquid bases. A ton of com
 mon bituminous coal will yield 300
 pounds of gasoline, 400 pounds of heavier oils suitable for Diesel inter- nal combustion engines, 120 pounds of lubricating oils and 160 ponds of fuel oils AS a rule about 45 gallons of marketable gasoline can be expected from ton of soft coal. The second fraction of heavier oils is used in inn pregnating another batch of powdered coal Among the products of the pro- cess is a quantity of carbolic acid or
 phenol, familiar antiseptic and also 
 compound of bake-lite, used in ra- dio and photographs.
 "The Bergius process can be an nexed to an ordinary gas-producing plant, converting the coke into more valuable oils and enabling inferior oils to be used. Dr. Bergius was asked whether his process would pay in the United States but declined to commit himself on the ground of his Iinexperience with Amerncan condi- tions. He ventured, however, to esti-
 mate that the various oil products could be made here at a cost of about $10 per ton."
 The application of the Bergius pro cess to Alaska coals as is proposed by San Francisco corporation, as de- tailed Saturday in The Gateway, ap- pears exceptionally favorable both
 with respect to bituminous and liz
 mite coals, both of which exist in all
 most immeasurable quantities, includ- ing coal like that of the Roth mine and the Healy River Coal Corporation
 mine, which is classed as sub-bi- luminous, and grades higher than what l is ordinarily understood as brown 'lig- mite.
 One of the advantages of the Roth coal, as pointed out by General Man ager Noel Smith of the Alaska Rail- road, is that it breaks with conchoid- al fracture like anthracite, will stand shipping without deterioration such as crushing, and carries a large volume of the constituents necessary to meet the requirements of the new process. Ben Thompson, formerly deputy U. S. marshal at Fairbanks, who re- gently suffered a stroke, was taken south on the s. s. Alaska to secure soAJ T To xxyn- r !