An Improved Process for the Production of Peat Briquettes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1894-Accepted, 26th Jan., 1895
An Improved Process for the Production of Peat Briquettes.
I EMANUEL STAUBER, Engineer, of 11 Anhaltstrasse, Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
For many years experts in fuel have sought to obtain from tho immeasurable
peat moors a product equal in heating value to the coal briquettes previously used
and able to compete with them in price. By means of the numberless experiments
previously made the fact was proved that it is possible by drying, removing the
fibre compressing and shaping of the raw material, to produce peat briquettes
which as regards all the properties necessary to a good fuel were quite equal to the
briquettes manufactured previously and in some respects to excel them; at the same
time, however, the experience was gained that all methods of manufacture
hitherto used to produce this result increased the cost in such a largo degree that
peat briquettes as a matter of fact have not been placed on the markot up to the
present day.
The present invention refers to a new method of production which not only
produces briquettes fulfilling the heat giving and all other necessary requirements
but reduces the cost of production so largely that it, so far as the experimental
working carried out recently by the inventor allows of calculations being made,
leaves the cost of the peat briquettes at about to that of brown coal briquettes.
The peat question may therefore be considered as solved in the main.
In order to better understand the principle of the new process the following, may
be brought to recollection. The removal of the fibre before making the briquette
must, as is known, be effected for the following reason, that the plant fibre
contained in the raw material produces gases in burning which change its shape
and split up the briquette whilst the addition of this material, useless as a fuel,
considerably damages the quality of the manufacture and also acts prejudicially
the process of compression. The removal of the fibre has been hitherto effected
either by the dry or the wet process. In the first method the peat, after being
thoroughly dried, is reduced to powder by the aid of complicated mechanical
arrangements, and freed from the fibre by passing through sieves. By the wet
method the peat is also first dried, then freely moistened with clear water and the
fibres cut out. In both cases a complete drying of the raw material is necessary
before removal of the fibres and this forms the principal disadvantage of the
previous methods of manufacture. The living plant fibres give up their water
contents with difficulty so that the drying process of the peat, as obtained from the
bed, becomes a long and costly one whether this is carried out by natural or
artificial means. Furthermore the pulverisation or disintegration with the diy
process and the cutting out with the wet process are attended with many
difficulties and much loss of time so that a successful manufacture is quite
impossible.
The new process of manufacture varies entirely from this old method. According
thereto the raw material got from the bed is not dried but freed from water by
pressing so that a moist pliable mass is obtained. In top peat beds which are
drained, the further freeing from water is not required and in these cases it is only
necessary to slightly crush it In this damp pliable condition the removal of the
fibres takes place whereupon the cleaned peat is dried until it contains a small

page_text: amount of water, about 15%. The dried peat meal so produced comes finally from
the drying oven, that is, in the above mentioned condition into the briquette press
and is compressed and shaped therein without the aid of any binding material and
delivered as a manufacture at once utilisable.
The freeing from water, and crushing of the wet peat, is effected by pressing
between rollers and endless carrying and pressing belts; it can however be
effected by centrifugal or any other suitable means. When freeing from water as
with top peat is not necessary the crushing of the peat can be effected by passing
it through rubbing or beating rollers. It can easily be seen that the freoing from
water and crushing of the raw material is effected much more quickly than the
drying and pulverisation, or drying and cutting.
The removal of the fibre from the damp pliable mass takes place by means of
Nieves by the movement of which the mass easily splits up leaving the fibre mixed
therewith free. The special advantage is hereby gained that the fibres are not
broken in the length and form a bye product which can be utilised for other
technical purposes.
The drying of the peat freed from fibres that is, the steaming of the water still
ficely contained, 18 best effected in a drying oven and completed quickly under
proper conditions as the peat from which the fibre has been removed is proved to
diy much more quickly than peat containing the fibre. An important economy 16
thus effected in time, fuel, and cost of working.
The compressing and shaping of the peat is finally attained by the briquette
press under very high pressure. The peat is taken to the press in a warmed
condition so that the tarry products contained therein act as a binding material and
separate binding materials are thus made unnecessary.
It should also be remarked that the separate parts of the process described forms
a continuous and, therefore, economical operation, since the peat to be treated can
be always passed on direct from one apparatus to the other for immediate
continuation of the operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
A process for the production of peat briquettes in such manner that the peat
obtained from the bed is first freed from water by pressure and crushed, then in
this moist pliable condition it is freed from the fibrous mixture, is dried after
emoval of the fibres until only a small quantity of water is contained, and finally,
in this condition, is compressed and shaped.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1894.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.