Abstract
ON March 17, G. W. J. Bradley, in a paper presented to the Institute of Fuel, briefly reviewed the history of the coking industry from its inception at the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day. This development has gradually culminated into a tendency for the industry to split into two sections, the section connected with iron and steel works and regarded as an auxiliary part of steel works technique and the section situated at the collieries. During the years 1934–37 orders have been placed by British steelworks for plants to carbonize approximately six and a half million tons of coal per year. This figure is equivalent to one third of the total carbonizing capacity of the industry. Naturally this prodigious increase in the number and capacity of plants provided by steelworks has deprived colliery-owned coke ovens of a large proportion of the market for furnace coke. Nevertheless, there is no cessation of coking at the collieries, as is apparent from the fact that, during the period 1934–37, 664 coke ovens were ordered by British collieries. So far as future developments of the industry are concerned, much depends upon the attitude adopted by coal owners and on the education of popular opinion towards a correct understanding of the principles involved. Carbonized fuel, whether solid or gaseous, is eminently suitable for domestic heating. The coal trade must be brought to realize this and steps should be taken to compensate for the inevitable loss of revenue which will follow the disappearance of raw coal from the domestic fuel market. Instead of fighting to retain raw coal in this market by raising the price of coal to those who make smokeless fuel, the coal trade should develop a widespread scheme of collaboration with producers of carbonized fuel. By-product coking is as fundamentally important an industry to the nation as a whole as is the coal industry, and as such it should be developed both technically and commercially with the greatest possible foresight.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
By-product Coking. Nature 141, 865–866 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141865c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141865c0