Mr. Wigham Richardson, in his address to the North-East Coast
Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, reported in the Newcastle Daily Journal of Monday, noticed a new method of smoke-consumption which may be of the utmost im- portance. Under the process invented by Mr. Mond, of Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co., smoke becomes a product far too valuable to be turned loose into the air. "He burns his coals with artificial draught, and, conveying the gases into a chamber, he washes them with water spray, which causes every particle of soot or smoke to be deposited, and at the same time condenses and recovers the ammonia (a product of nitrogen and hydrogen), as well as the sulphurous fumes." To do this, however, and yet to get an equal efficiency of steam-raising power, he has to burn 125 tons of coal in place of 100 tons, and for every 125 tons of coal burned he recovers four tons of sulphate of ammonia. The fuel, if cheap (say, 5s. a ton), will cost 231, and the sulphate of ammonia, at 212 a ton, is worth 248. "If," says Mr. Richardson, " results such as these can be attained, the doom of smoke is sealed." A smoky factory-chimney, that is, will henceforth be like a leaky brewer's vat,—something through which money is pouring away.
Previous page
