Show THE VOLATILE MATTER OF COAL washington D C nov 27 the volatile matter of com coal is the title of the first bulletin to he be issued by the new federal bureau of mines the authors horace C porter and F K conducted their investigations at the pittsburg station while it was under the technologic branch of 0 the geological survey the work being a continuation of the fuel investigations begun several years ago at the louisiana purchase exposition st louis mo the results obtained at that plant showed that the work of determining the fuel values of the coals and in the united states with a view to increasing efficiency in their utilization would be incomplete if it did not include systematic physical and chemical researches into the processes of combustion hence in their later investigations the authors carried on such researches concentrating attention on those lines of inquiry which promised results of greatest economic c importance this bulletin is therefore a report on an investigation of the volatile matter in several typical coals its composition and amount at daft aernt temperatures pera tures of quoted directly the authors say the investigation has already shown that the volatile content of different coals differs greatly in character the volatile matter of the younger coals found in the west includes a large proportion of carbon dioxide carbon monoxide and water and a correspondingly spon small proportion of hydrocarbons and tarry vapors the older bituminous coal of the appalachian region yield volatile matter containing large amounts of tarry vapors and hydrocarbons difficult to burn completely without considerable excess of air and a high temperature coal of the western type moreover gives up its volatile matter more easily at moderate and low temperatures than that of tile the other type the volatile matter produced at medium and low temperatures is rich in higher hydrocarbons of the methane type azich such as ethane and propane which contain a larger portion of carbon anan is present in methane these facts help to explain the difficulty of burning pittsburg coal for example without smoke the low efficiency usually obtained in burning high volatile western coals the advantage of a preheated pre heated auxiliary air supply introduced over a fuel bed and the advantage of a furnace and boiler setting adapted to the type of fuel used they bear directly also on the question of steaming capacity of coal for locomotives the designing and operation of gas producers for high volatile fuels and the operation of coke ovens and gas retorts the results show further that certain bituminous coals of the interior and rocky mountain provinces give promise of good yields of products byproducts by of coking notably ammonia and high candle power gas comparing favorably in these respects with the high grade coking coals of the eastern province they show also that inert non combust ible material is present in the volatile products of different kinds of coal to an extent ranging from I 1 to 15 per cent of the coal the bulletin will be of interest to fuel engineers designers and balders of 0 gas producers gas and coke manufacturers superintendents of power plants railway master mechanics and those engaged in the suppression of smoke the bulletin may be obtained by applying to the director of the bureau of mines Nv washington ashington D C |