AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING PEAT FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAME INTO AN ARTIFICIAL COAL, INHAT STATE OR AFTERWARDSUC
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Michel Henri Perodeaud, Civil En-
gineer, of No. 35, Rue Godot de Mauroy, Paris, in the Empire of
France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING
PEAT FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAME INTO AN ARTIFICIAL COAL,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Michel
Henri Perodeaud at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 26th November 1853.
I, JOSEPHI MICHEL HENRI PERODEAUD, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for. "AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING PEAT FOR
THE CONVERSION OF THE SAME INTO AN ARTIFICIAL COAL, WHICH MAY BE USED
IN THAT STATE OR AFTERWARDS REDUCED TO COKE," to be as follows:-
. In carrying out this Invention the peat is submitted to the action of
a pug mill, which brings it into a state of division, and while undergoing

page_text: that operation, certain chemical solutions are combined therewith for
the purpose of eliminating the metallic and other bodies which it may
contain, and leaving the carbon intact.
The solutions employed for this purpose are as follows:-
Solution A, caustic potash and soda at 40 degrees Beaumé, in equal
proportions; take of this mixture, 1 part; water, 30 parts; sulphate of
potash and alumina, 3 parts. The sulphate must be first dissolved in
a hot state in the proportion of 10 quarts of water for every two
pounds of the salt; and forming together 30 quarts.
Solution B, nitric acid of commerce at 36° Beaumé, 1 part; water,
40 parts.
Solution C, hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid of commerce) at 22°
Beaumé, 5 parts; water, 86 parts; tribasic sulphate of potash and
alumina, 2 parts. The sulphate must be dissolved as mentioned for
the first solution; the whole forming 20 quarts.
These solutions are to be combined with the peat in the proportion
of 10 quarts for every cubic yard of the peat. These solutions are to
be successively poured into the peat while it is being operated upon by
the pug mill.
The above mentioned solutions will serve to produce the desired
effect on dry peat, but when it is desired to operate upon peat which is
saturated with moisture, the solutions must be modified as follows:-
For the first solution (A), take of carbonate of potash and soda of
commerce, one part, dissolved in a hot state in twelve times its weight of
water; hypochlorite of lime (chloride of lime of commerce), one part;
tribasic sulphate of potash and alumina, 3 parts, dissolved hot, in the
proportion of 10 quarts of water for every 2 lbs. of the salt, and form-
ing together 30 quarts. The solution A will then be as follows:-90
quarts of the above mentioned solution of carbonate and hypochlorite;
30 quarts of sulphate of potash and alumina. The nitrates of potash
and soda mixed with nitrate of lime in equal proportions, and the three
salts dissolved in twelve times their weight of water, might also be
advantageously employed. The formula of solution A would then be
90 quarts of the solution of the nitrates, and 30 quarts of the solution
of potash and alumina.

page_text: The solution B must contain à double quantity of nitric acid when
the solution A is composed of carbonate and hypochlorite, the quantity
of nitrates remaining the same. These solutions must be poured into
pug
mill in the proportion of 20 quarts for every cubic yard of
the
fresh peat.
The above proportions are merely given as examples, but it will be
understood that they may be varied according to the nature of the peat
to be operated upon; for instance, if the peat contains a large pro-
portion of ferruginous compounds or of manganese, it will be advisable
to add 50 per cent. more acid to the solution B, and to double the
proportion of acid of the solution C.
The peat after being treated as above stated, may either, after having
been submitted to pressure, be employed as fuel, or it may be carbonized
for the purpose of converting it into coke.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Michel Henri Perodeaud in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH MICHEL HENRI PERODEAUD, Civil Engineer, of No: 35, Rue
Godot de Mauroy, Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in
the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Michel Henri
Perodeaud, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Michel Henri
Perodeaud, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Michel Henri Perodeaud, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the Channel

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
TREATING PEAT FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE SAME INTO AN ARTIFICIAL COAL,
WHICH MAY BE USED IN THAT STATE OR AFTERWARDS REDUCED TO COKE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Michel Henri
Perodeaud, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same' to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Michel Henri Perodeaud,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed; to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters. and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
CE
In carrying out this Invention, the peat is submitted to the action of
a pug mill which brings it into a state of minute division, and while
undergoing this operation certain chemical solutions are mixed there-
with for the purpose of eliminating the metallic and other bodies which
it may contain, and leaving the carbon intact.
The apparatus which I employ for this purpose is represented in
several views in the accompanying Drawings; Fig. 1, being a sectional
plan view; Fig. 2, a sectional elevation taken in the line I, J, of
Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a side elevation thereof. A, is the steam engine
for communicating motion to the beaters of the pug mill; B, is the
steam boiler; C, are the pug mills, in which shafts furnished with
beaters or arms are mounted; D, is the opening or channel for the
introduction of the raw peat, and also of the water for facilitating its
division, and the solutions by which it is acted upon for the purpose of
eliminating certain substances from the peat as above mentioned; E,
are rotary pumps for supplying water to the reservoir, and also for
feeding the pug mills, and the steam boiler; F, is a chamber enclosing
the reservoirs for the solutions herein-after mentioned; N, is a pipe for
conducting the solutions into the pug mills while the peat is undergoing
the pugging operation.

page_text: The solutions which I employ for this purpose, and which I call
"alkaline acid solutions are prepared separately as follows:―
First solution (A), caustic soda and potash at forty degrees
Beaumé, are to be mixed in the proportion of an equal half part of
each alkali. Of this compound take one part; water, thirty parts;
sulphate of potash and alumina, three parts. The sulphate must
previously have been dissolved in the hot state in the proportion of
ten quarts of water to two pounds of the salt, which will form together
thirty quarts.
Second solution (B), of nitric acid of commerce at thirty-six degrees
Beaumé, one part; water, forty parts.
Third solution (C), hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid of commerce) at
twenty-two degrees Beaumé, five parts; water, eighty-six parts; tribasic
sulphate of potash and alumina, two parts. The sulphate is to be
dissolved as described for the first solution, and forming together
twenty quarts. These solutions are to be introduced to the peat in-
differently in the proportion of ten quarts of solution for every cubic yard
of fresh peat.
The above solutions will be found suitable for producing the desired
effect upon dry peat, but when operating upon peat which is satu-
rated with moisture, the formula of the solutions must be modified as
follows:-
For the first solution (A), take carbonate of potash and soda of com-
merce, one part, dissolved with heat in twelve times its weight of water;
hypochlorite of lime (chloride of lime of commerce), one part; tribasic
sulphate of potash and alumina, three parts, dissolved with heat, in the
proportion of ten quarts of water for every two pounds of the salt, and
forming together thirty quarts. Mix these solutions together, and the
solution A will then be formed, consisting of ninety quarts of the above
solution of carbonate and hypochlorite, and thirty quarts of sulphate of
potash and alumina. Nitrates of potash and soda mixed with nitrate
of lime (this latter in equal proportion with the nitrates of potash and
soda), when dissolved in a cold state in twelve tinies their weight of
water, might also be advantageously employed, the formula of the

page_text: solution A would then be ninety quarts of the solution of the nitrates,
and thirty quarts of the solution of potash and alumina.
The solution B, when the solution A is composed of carbonate of
potash and soda and hypochlorite of lime, should contain one and a
half parts of nitric acid, but it should be of the strength above indicated
when the solution of nitrates is employed.
The proportions to be poured into the pug mill indifferently for the
three solutions, would be twenty quarts to every cubic yard of fresh
peat (the solution A being modified, and the solution B having an
additional quantity of acid).
Instead of liquid caustic soda and potash at forty degrees, the
solution A might be advantageously employed when modified as de-
scribed by the carbonates and the hypochlorite; and also the solution
B, having an additional quantity of acid, for dry peat or peat of good or
middling quality. When the solution A is employed, composed
according to the second formula, the proportions for A and B should
be twenty quarts for every cubic yard of fresh peat. If it should be
found by analysis that ferruginous compounds or compounds of man-
ganese predominate in the peat to be operated upon, which impart to
the peat a reddish hue somewhat resembling that of tobacco (these
qualities of peat are always inferior, heavy, weighing from one thou-
sand six hundred to one thousand seven hundred pounds per square
yard, and even more, and are charged with cinder and always
in an advanced stage of decomposition), it will, in that case, be
advisable to augment by fifty per cent. the quantity of acid of the
solution B, and to double the proportion of acid of the solution C.
The solution B will then be, acid, one and a half part; water, forty
parts; and the solution C will be, hydrochloric acid, ten parts; water,
eighty-six parts; sulphate of potash and alumina, dissolved as above
stated, thirty quarts. Although these kinds of peat, which are found
in sufficiently large quantities, are generally thrown away with reason
as being of inferior quality, by means of my improved processes I
succeed in imparting to, them the same qualities as the superior kinds
of peat, the per centage of peat coal produced being, however, less,

page_text: as the elimination of the metallic bodies will reduce materially the
weight of the peat which remains.
MODE OF WORKING AND APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS OF CON-
DENSATION OF THE PEAT.
In order to render the following description more explicit, I will first
determine the quantity of fresh peat which should be supplied to the
pug mills during a given period, say twenty minutes for example, and
the quantity of peat twenty yards. Supposing this to be the case, the
following is the mode of operation :---
The solution A must be introduced into the pug mill with the first
cubic yard of peat, and by anticipation for six cubic yards, (that is to
say,) sixty quarts, or one hundred and twenty quarts if the solution A
were employed, modified with the carbonates and hypochlorite. After
the sixth cubic yard has been introduced, the solution B may be applied
in sufficient quantity for four cubic yards, that is to say, forty quarts, or
cighty quarts if the modified solution B be employed.
These ten first cubic yards having been treated by the solutions A
and B, the solution C must be applied by anticipation to the remain-
ing ten cubic yards, that is to say, one hundred quarts, or two hundred
quarts if this solution be modified as above mentioned.
It is advisable to remark that the receptacle into which the peat
flows after being treated by the pug mills, must be presumed to be of
sufficient capacity to contain the twenty yards of fresh peat, so
operated upon and rendered liquid, which shall have been poured
therein during the twenty minutes, so that the whole of the three
alkaline acid solutions successively introduced to the pug mills during
that space of time may be received in the same receptacle.
If the capacity of the reservoir were such as to be capable of con
taining several times ten cubic yards, there would be no inconvenience
in stopping the flow of the liquid peat; on the introduction of either of
the solutions A, B, or C indifferently, there would evidently be an
excess of one of the three solutions in the whole, but after the intro-
duction of several solutions into the same reservoir this effect would

page_text: be neutralized, and would not produce any injurious effect. This
would not, however, be the case if the reservoir should not be of
sufficient capacity to contain more than two solutions. The operation
would then be incomplete, imperfect combinations would be produced,
the process would not be effected, and therefore the desired result
could not be obtained.
Although the proportions have been studied with great care; and
will be found to produce the best and most uniform result, I wish it to
be understood that an excess will not prove injurious, as the effect
would not be thereby augmented, and consequently the expense
would be unnecessarily increased without any beneficial result being
obtained. The principal object being to render soluble and eliminate
the combinations of the ulmic acid with the metallic bases and
metalloids, and to decompose the ulmates, the principle followed by
me (and which is in conformity with chymical laws,) has been to
endeavour to modify the chymical composition of the peaty matter, by
breaking up one of its compounds, whatever it may be. Now when
one constituent is modified or combined diversely in a body which
contains several of them, the whole is instantaneously modified or
broken up.
.
The choice of the chymical agents, independently of the object of
their neutralizing action, has been determined by a series of studies
and experiments; the strength of these solutions has been also propor-
tioned exactly to the maximum action desired, so that whether separate
or combined the combinations produced may be, as well at the moment
of their formation as afterwards, completely inert upon the carbon,
leaving it intact, producing no carbonaceous combination, and not
diminishing in the slightest degree the quantity of useful organic
matter.
The principal feature of my improved process, and which I consider
as constituting the novelty of my Invention, consists in neutralizing
as completely as possible by a regular manufacturing operation, the
acid principle contained in the peat in various combinations; this
object would not be attained, but would on the contrary be defeated,

page_text: if the proportions of acid were too considerably augmented. It is the
action of the acid diluted to a suitable and ascertained extent which
it is advisable to obtain, and not the energetic disorganizing and
oxygenizing action, so to speak, of these powerful chemical agents.
Thus it will be seen that the employment of the solutions in excess
is not attended with any injurious result, except that it increases the
expence without
any benefit; an excess of acid in the proportions of
the solutions would produce an effect entirely contrary to that desired,
as instead of neutralizing the acid principle it would augment the
number of combinations of that kind.
The peat having been treated as above described, is run off into
reservoirs formed by constructing walls of wicker work or willow,
about three feet in height on the ground, and covering them with suine
suitable filtering fabric.
This fabric will permit of the water: contained in the peat draining
off, whereby the deposit of the peat will be facilitated, and at the end
of about five days the peat will have acquired a degree of consistence,
so as to admit of its being cut up into pieces, and submitted to the
action of a drying apparatus.
When all the moisture has been evaporated from the peat, and it has
become sufficiently solidified, it is then ready for usc. In that state I
call the product "peat coal." Or it may be converted into coke by any
of the ordinary and well-known processes.
I have above set forth the principal features and most essential
details of my process for the treatment of peat. It will be seen that the
alternate employment of alkalies of acids, properly so called, and of
hydro acids, constitutes the essential principle of my Invention, inde-
pendently of the mechanical action of the pug mills, the construction
of the apparatus, and the details of the mode of operation.
I therefore desire it to be understood, that what I claim as new
under the above in part recited Letters Patent is,―
Firstly, the employment either directly or indirectly in the treatment
of peat of the "alkali acids," having oxygen for their base, and of
hydro acids.

page_text: And, secondly, the arrangement of apparatus as above described,
and shewn in the Drawings, for the purpose of operating upon the peat
as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Michel Henri Perodeaud,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four.
Witness,
CHARLES A. PERPIGNA,
of 46, Rue St Anne,
Paris.
J. PERODEAUD. (L.S.)