depending on the coal used, is one of the most valuable by-products. It can be used for all sorts of heating purposes at the steel plant, and its value in replacing coal for all purposes at one of our steel plants is equivalent to approximately one-half million net tons of coal per year, based on 40,500 cubic feet of surplus gas being equivalent to one net ton of coal at that point. This surplus gas is also used for illuminating purposes and can be piped long distances for this purpose. In Europe it is used quite extensively in gas engines. Experiments have also been made using it in the open-hearth furnaces alone or mixed with blast furnace gas, the latter method having been largely adopted in certain parts of Europe,and I believe ultimately in this country will receive due consideration. Benzol. The principal uses of benzol and its products are: (1) As a motor fuel. (2) To enrich the illuminating power of gas. (3) In manufacture of aniline dyes. (4) As a solvent for rubber and similar substances. (5) In manufacture of gunpowder. Production of benzol in Europe has increased enormously in recent years due to its increasing consumption as a motor fuel in place of gasoline. At the same time, the price has steadily increased, more than keeping pace with the increased production. CONCLUSION. In conclusion, permit me to express my firm conviction that, when located at points suitable to its requirements, the by-product coke oven is the most satisfactory and economical system yet known for the manufacture of metallurgical coke. It also furnishes a desirable method for the production of illuminating gas and domestic coke, and we are able to utilize practically all the valuable constituents of coal. As a great conserver of the national resources of the country's fuel, it should receive the closest study. Take the Gary (Ind.) by-product coke-oven plant as a concrete example: In the last six months of 1912 we actually produced coke at the rate of 2,900,000 tons per year on a mixture of 76.4 per cent Pocahontas and 23.6 per cent high volatile coals. The conservation of coal through producing this amount of coke in by-product ovens instead of beehive ovens amounts to about 1,190,000 tons per year. Furthermore, the actual utilization of the surplus gas for various heating purposes at this plant for the same period is equivalent to an annual saving by replacement of practically 500,000 tons of coal. In other words, in the annual production of 2,900,000 tons of coke at the Gary (Ind.) by-product coke-oven plant a saving of practically 1,700,000 tons of coal, based on above mixture of low and high volatile coals, has been accomplished, which means the conservation of that amount of the coal of our national coal reserves from the operation of that one plant alone. This amount of conservation would not occur in case of using all high volatile coals, because the difference in yield from the low volatile Pocahontas coal when coked in retort ovens as against bee-hive ovens is much greater than is the case with high volatile coals. For instance, if the abovementioned tonnage of coke had been produced entirely from Connellsville coal, the saving of coal due to the greater yield in retort ovens would have amounted to about 475,000 tons per year. This, with the saving due to replacement of about 500,000 tons of coal by surplus gas would give a total conservation of practically 1,000,000 tons of coal per year when using all Connellsville coal as against 1,700,000 tons of coal per year when using the mixture at Gary, Ind., above referred to. The coke produced in by-product coke ovens, when properly made, is fully equal in quality to that produced in beehive ovens. It is possible to utilize a larger variety of coals when properly selected and mixed, including coals which up to the present time have been practically regarded as "noncoking coals," and make a highly satisfactory metallurgical coke. I am distinctly of the opinion that in this country the by-product coke should in most cases be made at the blast furnace plants and not at the coal mines, for in this way it becomes possible to mix coals from various localities to great advantage. I believe that the operation of blast furnaces and coke ovens can be conducted in a more intelligent manner when the coke ovens are located at the blast furnace plant and are under the same management; this also allows a better distributing point for the by-products, such as tar and gas, which can be consumed to great advantage in the works when the blast furnaces are connected with large steel plants. As to the constructive features of by-product coke ovens, which I have described somewhat in my paper, while we have learned a great deal from the Germans, yet I am frank to say I think we have improved very greatly not only on their construction, but also on their practice, particularly in the amount of output per day per oven, at the same time preserving, if not improving, the quality of the coke by so doing. As to the possible overproduction of nitrogen, careful study of the whole situation would indicate we need have no apprehension that the supply will exceed the demand. The increasing production of ammonium sulphate is making it possible to supply the farmer with the nitrogen he requires for intensive farming, and as this supply increases he will be able to cultivate his land to better advantage and obtain a larger product per acre. I also believe as the supply increases it will tend to stimulate that demand which at present lies dormant. In the United States there were produced in 1912 about 200,000 tons of ammonium sulphate and sulphate equivalent. We consumed approximately 230,000 tons, or considerably more than the production. If we recovered the ammonium sulphate from all the 53,000,000 tons of coal coked in this country in that year, it would have amounted to nearly half a million tons, or about twice the present consumption. If the present rate of consumption increases in anything like the ratio for the last 10 years, then the consumption of ammonium sulphate will in a comparatively few years equal the greatest possible production obtainable through the coking of coal, and we all realize that before all of the coal is coked in by-product ovens in this country more than 10 years must have elapsed. The probabilities are that the increase in the demand for ammonium sulphate produced from coal will in time exceed the supply from this source, so that the further supply of nitrogen must come through the use of nitrate of soda from Chile, which has been and still is extensively used, and through other methods of obtaining it, such as from cyanamid, of which approximately 250,000 tons per year are being produced, as well as synthetic ammonium nitrate and sulphate processes, peat, etc. Some of these latter processes, however, can still be stated to be in the experimental stage, even though large amounts of money have already been spent in efforts to develop them. Their value as competitors to the present known and used fertilizers through their ultimate economical production is too uncertain at this time to be discussed by me in detail. A careful study of what the various Governments are doing, through their agricultural departments, in the way of educating the farmers as to the advantages of artificial fertilizers and a consideration of what is likely to take place in the production of nitrogen from the above sources leads me to believe that the demand for artificial fertilizers for a great many years to come will be in excess of the supply. Referring once more to the sulphate of ammonia, my conclusions are that the nitrogen in sulphate of ammonia can be produced at a lower cost than in any of the above sources of supply; in other words, that considering all of the above sources of supply, sulphate of ammonia, as made in the by-product coke ovens, will at all times give a handsome return on the money invested. There is an ever-increasing demand for the surplus gas for the many different uses of heating required in a steel plant or for illuminating purposes which will always cause the surplus gas to remain a by-product of great value. The use of tar, which formerly was a drug on the market, has of late been greatly stimulated as its advantages for roofing purposes, binder for road building, creosoting, burning in open-hearth furnaces, etc., have become more fully recognized. Benzol is now extensively used abroad as a motor fuel, and the same conditions are likely to prevail here. Recent tests have shown that benzol is the equivalent of gasoline for this purpose. In fact, better results have been obtained with it in automobiles than with gasoline. As I previously stated, all of the coke in Germany is made in retort coke ovens and about 80 per cent of these are equipped for recovery of by-products. From the rapid progress that is being made in this country I firmly believe that the time is coming when the same condition will prevail in the United States. And now, Mr. Chairman, permit me to express my earnest appreciation of the assistance rendered in the study of this whole problem by my associates, particularly the members of the coke committee and the coke-oven superintendents. Their keen study of the different systems, their careful analysis of all conditions connected with operations, have enabled us to reach the present state of perfection of the art, and great credit is due to them for all that has been accomplished so far. REFERENCES. United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the United States, year 1911. United States Geological Survey, Manufacture of Coke, E. W. Parker, year 1911. United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Utilization of Atmospheric Nitrogen, by Thomas H. Norton, year 1912. Mineral Industry, year 1911. American Fertilizer Handbook, year 1912. Sulphate of Ammonia Production, American Coal Products Co., year 1911. DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER PERMIT GRANTING THE INTERNATIONAL POWER AND PRESENTED BY MR. JONES WASHINGTON |