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THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

November 15, 1918.

tures are: Gas cooled to 30 degs. Cent. ; after addi-
tion of still vapours, 40 to 42 degs. Cent.; after
saturator, 50 degs. Cent.

The thermal margin is not great, but there is no
difficulty in dealing with all the water vapour that
enters the saturator with the gas.

Marr found that after the equilibrium temperature
of the mixture of still vapours and cooled gas is
attained, the surplus water vapour or supersaturation
is readily removed on passing the mixed gases through
any water-separator suitable for dealing with a water
fog. In his process such a separator is interposed
between the place where the still vapours are added
and the saturator. The result is that less water enteTs
the acid bath, and the temperature of the outlet gas
is. higher, with a correspondingly higher capacity for
carrying water vapour. Gas cooled to 20 degs. Cent. ;
at inlet of saturator, 45 degs. Cent.; at outlet of
saturator, 55 degs. Cent. In operating Marr’s process,
60 to 70 per cent, of the total ammonia is found dis-
solved in the liquor. The free ammonia remaining in
the gas reduces the proportion of free ammonia in
the liquor, and correspondingly increases the propor-
tion of fixed ammonia. Liquor of that composition
is little liable to losses by evaporation.

The separate recovery of ammonium chloride and
naphthalene, which detract from the simplicity of the
direct process, do not trouble us here, but the principal
gain of the semi-direct process is the complete control
of the losses which are inevitable in scrubbers,
especially in hot weather, so that there is no difficulty
in maintaining a 99 per cent, recovery.

Next in importance is the reduction of the quantity
of waste liquor to nearly half that of the indirect
process as usually practised.

If waste liquor is used for lime mixing, the relative
quantities of waste liquor to be disposed of, taking
the indirect process as unity, is as follows :—Indirect
process, 1-00; direct process, 0-45; semi-direct process,
0-52.

Benzol Rectification.

At the present time the absorbing oil is usually
stripped of its light oil in column stills instead of in
earlier form of intermittent blow-over still. Solvays
use the same method for all fractions; the light
oil (65 per cent, at 120 degs. Cent.) is passed through
a similar continuous still to separate the crude benzol
from the creosote carried over in the previous distilla-
tion; a third column separates the 90 per cent, benzol
from the fractions of higher boiling point, and so on,
under the same principle, until all the fractions are
isolated. In each distillation the oil is fed continu-
ously. The volume of the feed and of the liquid con-
tained in the column is so considerable as to compen-
sate and render negligible any variations in the tem-
perature or quality of the oil under treatment. The
appropriate temperature of the vapour having been,
once established, the operation proceeds continuously
with very little attention, and a definite and constant
fraction is recovered. As the vapours ascend the
columns from tray to tray, they are subjected to
liberal washing in the bubbles, and the less volatile
bodies are thus scrubbed out of the vapours.

On the finished products side, the residual from any
one fraction is completely vaporised in a few compart-
ments in the lower part of the column, in order to
ensure greater purity in that residual, which, after
condensing, is passed on to the next fractionating
column. In the smaller plants a column and washer
may be used for one fraction during part of the week,
and for another fraction during the remainder. In
every case the capacity of any of the columns may be
increased at any time by adding more compartments
to their height.

Impurities of low boiling point, such as carbon bi-
sulphide, are eliminated from the 90 per cent, benzol
by isolating the vapours from several of the top com-
partments of the column.

Conclusion.

It must be admitted that the process of coking
cannot be called economically perfect until some
inventor devises a more direct application of the heat
necessary to distil the coal. The heat used exceeds
greatly that required for decomposition. About
2^- million British thermal units per ton of coal treated
is transmitted through firebrick—a bad conductor—
and through the charge of coal or coke—still worse
conductors. We cannot be content with our limited
knowledge and control of the formation and decom-
position of ammonia, and must aim at the recovery
of a larger proportion of the nitrogen in that or some
other form, together with the sulphur now lost to us
or only partly recovered in the costly manner practised
since early days.

Release of Miners from Military Service.—Our Mining
Correspondent writes : In view of the shortage of coal
stocks and the demand for skilled labour in the mines,
the Military authorities are adopting the course of re-
leasing miners serving with the Forces in France, so that
they may return to their work in the pits. By the invi-
tation of the Coal Controller, the executive of the Miners’
Federation has agreed to co-operate with the authorities
in the re-employment of those men who are physically fit
to return to the pits in the district and at the pits where
they formerly worked. Already some thousands of men
have been returned.

Railway Equipment and Standardisation.—The report
of the Advisory Council which the Ministry of Recon-
struction appointed to consider the desirability of
standardisation of railway equipment is now available.
The Committee reports that, in so far as is practicable, the
national interest would be best served by uniformity of
railway plant, and immediate steps to carry standardisa-
tion into effect are recommended. The Committee recom-
mends that the consulting engineers and representatives
of railways financed by British capital in foreign parts
and in the Dominions be brought together to confer with
the locomotive and wagon manufacturers in this country
to- determine what standardisation can be effected, and
that, with a view to the possibility of effecting partial
international standardisation, the separate committees
should take cognisance of each other’s investigations.

THE SULPHATE OF AMMONIA
ASSOCIATION.

The annual report of the executive committee of the
Sulphate of Ammonia Association states that under
the arrangements by which all sales of sulphate of
ammonia for export and for munition purposes were
placed in the association’s hands, a quantity of
49,419 tons was sold and a total surplus of about
£76,400 realised and distributed in accordance with the
terms of the equalisation scheme, this sum representing
£70,100 on 27,6u0 tons delivered for export and £6,300
on 21,800 tons for munitions. No difficulty of any
kind was met with in dealing with these comparatively
large quantities through a central office, and the asso-
ciation was able to finance the entire transactions out
of the small balance which it carried forward at the end
of each period, after paying dividends under the
equalisation scheme. For the coming year the Ministry
of Munitions has decided to place all industrial sales
in the hands of the association, and the surplus will be
pooled among all makers in proportion to their pro-
duction.

The Makers Sub-Committee of the Sulphate of
Ammonia Distribution Committee conducted the nego-
tiations with the Ministry of Munitions and the Food
Production Department, which resulted in an increase
of £2 7s. 6d. per ton on the 1917 price being secured,
together with guarantees against further increase in the
cost of acid and bags. The subsequent decision of the
War Cabinet to maintain prices at the 1917 level to
the farmer—involving, as it does, a heavy contribution
from the taxpayer—came as a surprise to makers.
There is little doubt that farmers could and would have
paid a much higher price for sulphate, but the asso-
ciation does not quarrel with a decision which gives
sulphate a valuable advertisement.

Control of the Home Market.

Throughout last year the association was employed
by the Food Production Department in arranging the
distribution of sulphate for agricultural purposes. Up
to the end of September 1917 makers had, more or less,
a free hand as regards home sales; but from October
onwards the association took practical control, and
agricultural orders for about 130,000 tons were placed
with makers. The total deliveries for home agriculture
were 238,000 tons—the comparative figures for the two
preceding seasons are 150,000 and 62,000 tons respec-
tively. The fact that the stocks in May 1917 were
10,500 tons, whereas the quantity at the works in May
1918 was only 7,600 (in spite of a largely increased
capacity for production at the later date) is an eloquent
testimony to the patriotic spirit in which makers
assisted the association, although, during the last two
months at any rate, it was not to their financkl interest
to do so.

For the coming year the provisions of the Fertilisers
Prices Order, 1918, govern all transactions in sulphate
for home use. The main object of the Order is to
secure the most economical distribution as far as freight
and use of trucks are concerned, and the almost
complete control which it gives to the distributing body
should serve to secure this object. In view of the
experience gained last year, however, the extension of
bureaucratic control over sulphate is a matter for some
regret.

It has been the policy of the association ever since
1915 to get into touch as far as possible with the regular
distributors, such as country corn and manure
merchants, and the result of the experience gained
during the past seasons has been to acquaint the associa-
tion with all the agricultural merchant buyers through-
out the country, and the fact that the association was able
to book orders prevented export brokers from obtaining
a species of vested interest in the home market such as
they undoubtedly held in the export market. The
efforts required to maintain the position at home will,
of course, depend on the amount of competition experi-
enced from other forms of nitrogen. Should this
competition prove very severe it may be necessary to
devise other methods of distribution; in the meantime
the committee is convinced that every effort must be
made to retain the interest of the country merchants,
by giving them reasonable security as regards market
fluctuations, and by putting them on as favourable a
basis as regards trading as they enjoy from competitors.
It is also of vital importance that the quality and
mechanical condition of sulphate should be so improved
as to compare favourably with the condition of nitrolim
and nitrate of soda.

In view of the efforts being put forward by com-
petitors, it has become necessary for the association to
be more fully equipped on the scientific side. The
committee has therefore obtained the services of two
fully qualified women assistants^—Mrs. K. M. Robinson
and Miss M. James—who are now assisting Mr. Black-
hurst at the Southport office.

In the prize competitions arranged by the association,
477 individual competitors entered, comprising 695
entries, representing 46 counties, as compared with 22
competitors, 42 entries and eight counties last year.

Supply of Neutral Sulphate.

Under the Fertiliser Prices Order the maker of
sulphate containing less than 0 025 per cent, of free
acid is entitled to charge 5s. per ton extra. This
official recognition of the value of better quality has
resulted in further experiments being made with a view
to producing neutral salt. The association issued a
circular giving full particulars of the “ Adam process”
now in operation at the works of the Gas Light
and Coke Company. The salt produced is superior to
any sulphate previously placed on the market in
Europe, and it is hoped that the great majority of
makers in the country will be producing neutral
sulphate by the time export on a large scale is again
possible. The question of quality is, however, equally
important as a means of retaining the home market.

Proposed Marketing Company.

Finally, the committee states that uniformity and
stability of price, improvement in quality and packing,
and scientific distribution are a few of the chief factors

which'have led to the enormous expansion in the home
trade during the war. If we are to retain this most
valuable market at our doors, means must be devised to
ensure the continuance of such a scheme of distribution
on national lines. A proposal, therefore, will shortly
come before members for consideration as to the forma-
tion of a sulphate of ammonia trading company, to be
owned and controlled entirely by makers of sulphate.
Its object would be to relieve the individual maker of
the responsibilities and risks of seeking his own market,
while at the same time guaranteeing to him the market
price, both at home and abroad, and free disposal of his
production. Such a company, if supported by the large
majority of makers, would be in a position to take the
necessary steps to retain and expand the home market,
and to take the fullest possible advantage of the
opportunities afforded by the export market.

SIR THOMAS R. RATCLIFFE-ELLIS
AND THE COAL INDUSTRY.

Sir Thomas R. Ratcliffe-Ellis, the secretary of the
Mining Association of Great Britain, who is a native
of Wigan, was a guest of the Mayor of Wigan, Aider-
man John Cheetham, J.P., the first direct working
man to be placed on the Commission of the Peace 26
years ago, and now, as then, a miners’ check weigher
at the Pemberton Collieries, along with Mr. Stephen
Walsh, M.P., the Parliamentary Secretary of the
Local Government Board, and the chairman of the
workmen’s section of the English Mining Conciliation
Board, at the mayoral banquet in the Wigan Mining
College* on Saturday. Sir Thomas, in responding to
the toast of “ The Coal Mining Industry,” said he had
never had the opportunity of being a member of the
Town Council of the ancient and loyal borough of
Wigan, but he had been a member of perhaps a larger
and an equally important association for the past 50
years, and, something more, he had occupied a posi-
tion of a humble but necessary ratepayer. It had been
their privilege in that class to criticise at times the
actions of their representatives in the Town Council
and at other times to commend them; and, above all,
to make suitable preparations for the periodical notes
they got from the collector of rates. He had said
criticise the actions of the council, but he was sure that
one of the latest decisions of the council in selecting
Aiderman Cheetham as the chief magistrate of the
borough was one that would receive universal com-
mendation. To him it was a very great pleasure* when
he heard that Aiderman Cheetham was to fill the posi-
tion. They had been friends for many years, and he
was sure that in the coming year, which would be
one of stress, the duties would be discharged to the
satisfaction of everyone, and when he laid down his
robe and chain he would be able to look back upon a
year of good work well done. In responding to
that toast, he had to represent not a section of the
industry but the whole industry, and what he said he
must ask them to consider as his own views. They
had in that industry three participators—capital,
management, and labour. They read that capital was
condemned in some places. Well, he could only say it
was a commodity very few people liked to be without.
If capital was to be employed in that industry capital
would have to be fairly remunerative—he did not say
extravagantly remunerative—otherwise it would move,
as capital could move, into some other industry where
it was more appre*ciated. When he spoke of manage-
ment he meant the persons who not only looked after
the getting of coal, but looked after the method by
which it was to be made marketable in the best
possible way at the markets where it could be
best sold. That management must be properly
remunerated. Then they came to labour, which
again must be properly remunerated. But labour
must be efficient, and it must give a quid pro quo
for the remuneration it received. None of those
individually and independently could run that indus-
try, but what could be done, and what would have to
be done, was that there would have to be whole-
hearted co-operation between the three. They had
done something in that direction in this country, and
the Whitley Council, of which he had the honour and
privilege to be* a member, had endeavoured to suggest
that in all industries representatives must endeavour
not to over-rule each other, but to assist each other in
every way to secure* the prosperity of industry. If
they could, agree to have whole-hearted co-operation
between the three participators, they would secure
continual prosperity for their industry.—His Worship
the Mayor said no other living‘man had played such
a part in the mining industry as had Sir Thomas
Ratcliffe-Ellis, whose name was respected in every
mining centre in the United Kingdom.

Continued Coal and Light Economy—The Coal Con
troller emphatically warns the public that, despite the
cessation of hostilities, there must not be any relaxation
of the effort to save coal and light. The demands of
our Allies, France and Italy, must for some time con-
tinue to be very exacting. The fuel situation in this
country is still precarious, and the demand for coal is
far from being met. It will be impossible materially to
alleviate the coal situation in the immediate future.

Greek Lignite.—On account of the coal shortage, several
Greek firms which possessed concessions have commenced
lignite mining. Greece imports most of her coal from
the United Kingdom. Her total importation was over
540,000 tons in 1914, of which nearly 470,000 tons came
from the United Kingdom, and nearly 40,000 tons from
Germany. Views are divided regarding the prospects of
Greek lignite after the war. The increased production
during the last few years is shown in the following
figures: 1909, 3,873 tons; 1914, 20,002; 1915, 39,745; 1916,
84,466; and 1917, 153,240 tons. It is estimated that there
are deposits of 10,000,000 tons at Kymi, 2,500,000 tons
at Aliveri, and some 15,000,000 tons in the remainder of
Greece.