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FUEL (O. Fr. feuaile, popular Lat. fo...

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 280 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FUEL (O. Fr. feuaile, popular See also:Lat. focalia, from See also:focus, See also:hearth, See also:fire)  , a See also:term applicable to all substances that can be usefully employed for the See also:production of See also:heat by See also:combustion . Any See also:element or See also:combination of elements susceptible of oxidation may under appropriate conditions be made to See also:burn; but only those that ignite at a moderate initial temperature and burn with See also:comparative rapidity, and, what is practically of more importance, are obtainable in quantity at moderate prices, can fairly be regarded as fuels . The elementary substances that can be so classed are primarily See also:hydrogen, See also:carbon and See also:sulphur, while others finding more See also:special applications are See also:silicon, See also:phosphorus, and the more readily oxidizable metals, such as See also:iron, See also:manganese, See also:aluminium and See also:magnesium . More important, however, than the elements are the carbohydrates or compounds of carbon, See also:oxygen and hydrogen, which See also:form the bulk of the natural fuels, See also:wood, See also:peat and See also:coal, as well as of their liquid and gaseous derivativescoal-See also:gas, coal-See also:tar, See also:pitch, oil, &c., which have high values as See also:fuel . Carbon in the elementary form has its nearest representative in the carbonized fuels, See also:charcoal from wood and See also:coke from coal . Solid Fuels . Wood may be considered as having the following See also:average See also:composition when in the See also:air-dried See also:state: Carbon, 39.6; hydro-wood. gen, 4.8; oxygen, 34.8; ash, 1.0; See also:water, 20 % . When it is freshly felled, the water may be from 18 to 50% . Air-dried or even See also:green wood ignites readily when a considerable See also:surface is exposed to the kindling See also:flame, but in large masses with See also:regular or smooth surfaces it is often difficult to get it to burn . When previously torrefied or scorched by See also:heating to a temperature of about zoo°, at which incipient charring is set up, it is exceedingly inflammable . The ends of imperfectly charred boughs from the charcoal heaps in this See also:condition are used in See also:Paris and other large towns in See also:France for kindling purposes, under the name of fumerons . The inflammability, however, varies with the See also:density,—the so-called hard See also:woods, See also:oak, See also:beech and See also:maple, taking See also:fire less readily than the softer, and, more especially, the coniferous varieties See also:rich in See also:resin .

The calorific See also:

power of absolutely dry woods may as an average be taken at about 4000 See also:units, and when air-dried, i.e. containing 25% of water, at 2800 to 3000 units . Their evaporative values, i.e. the quantities of water evaporated by unit See also:weight, are 3.68 and 4'44• Wood being essentially a flaming fuel is admirably adapted for use with heat-receiving surfaces of large extent, such as loco-See also:motive and marine boilers, and is also very clean in use . The See also:absence of all cohesion in the cinders or unburnt carbonized See also:residue causes a large amount of ignited particles to be projected from the See also:chimney, when a rapid See also:draught is used, unless special spark-catchers of See also:wire See also:gauze or some analogous contrivance are used . When burnt in open fireplaces the volatile products given off in the apartment on the first heating have an acrid penetrating odour, which is, however, very generally considered to be agreeable . Owing to the large amount of water See also:present, no very high temperatures can be obtained by the See also:direct combustion of wood, and to produce these for metallurgical purposes it is necessary to convert it previously either into charcoal or into inflammable gas . Peat includes a See also:great number of substances of very unequal fuel value, the most recently formed spongy See also:light See also:brown See also:kind Heat approximating in composition to wood, while the dense pitchy brown compact substance, obtained froth the bottom of bogs of See also:ancient formation, may be compared with See also:lignite or even in some instances with coal . Unlike wood, how-ever, it contains incombustible See also:matter in variable but large quantity, from 5 to 15% or even more . Much of this, when the amount is large, is often due to See also:sand mechanically intermixed; when air-dried the proportion of water is from 8 to 20% . When these constituents are deducted the average composition maybe stated to be—carbon, 52 to 66; hydrogen, 4.7 to 7.4; oxygen, 28 to 39; and See also:nitrogen, 1.5 to 3 % . Average air-dried peat may be taken as having a calorific value of 3000 to 3500 units, and when dried at roo° C., and with a minimum of ash (4 to 5 %), at about 5200 units, or from a See also:quarter to one-third more than that of an equal weight of wood . The lighter and more spongy varieties of peat when air-dried are exceedingly inflammable, firing at a temperature of zoo° C.; the denser pulpy kinds ignite less readily when in the natural state, and often require a still higher temperature when prepared by pulping and See also:compression or partial carbonization . Most kinds burn with a red smoky flame, developing a very strong odour, which, however, has its admirers in the same way that wood See also:smoke has .

This arises from the destructive See also:

distillation of imperfectly carbonized organic matter . The ash, like that of wood, is light and powdery, except when much sand is present, when it is of a denser See also:character . Peat is principally found in high latitudes, on exposed high tablelands and treeless areas in more temperate climates, and in the valleys of slow-flowing See also:rivers,—as in See also:Ireland, the See also:west of See also:Scotland, the tableland of See also:Bavaria, the See also:North See also:German See also:plain, and parts of the valleys of the See also:Somme, See also:Oise and a few other rivers in See also:northern France . A See also:principal objection to its use is its extreme bulk, which for equal evaporative effect is from 8 to 18 times that of coal . Various methods have been proposed, and adopted more or less successfully, for the purpose of increasing the density of raw peat by compression, either with or without pulping; the latter See also:process gives the heaviest products, but the improvement is scarcely sufficient to compensate for the cost . Lignite or brown coal is of intermediate character between peat and coal proper . The best kinds are undistinguishable in quality from See also:free-burning coals, and the lowest earthy Lignite. kinds are not equal to average peat . When freshly raised, the proportion of water may be from 45 to 50% and even more, which is reduced from 28 to 20% by exposure to dry air . .Most varieties, however, when fully dried, break up into See also:powder, which considerably diminishes their utility as fuel, as they cannot be consolidated by coking . Lignite dust may, however, be compacted into serviceable blocks for burning, by pressure in See also:machines similar to those used for See also:brick-making, either in the wet state as raised from the mines or when See also:kiln-dried at 200° C . This method was adopted to a very large extent in Prussian See also:Saxony . The calorific value varies between 3500 and 5000 units, and the evaporative See also:factor from 2.16 when freshly raised to 5.84 for the best kinds of lignite when perfectly dried .

Of the other natural fuels, apart from coal (q.v.), the most important is so-called See also:

vegetable refuse, such as See also:cotton stalks, brushwood, See also:straw, and the woody residue of See also:sugar-See also:cane after the extraction of the saccharine juice known as other megasse or cane trash . These are extensively used in natural fuels . countries where wood and coal are scarce, usually for providing See also:steam in the manufactures where they arise, e.g. straw for See also:thrashing, cotton stalks for ploughing, irrigating, or working presses, and cane trash for boiling down sugar or See also:driving the cane See also:mill . According to J . See also:Head (Proc . Inst. of See also:Civil See also:Engineers, vol. xlviii. p . 75), the evaporative values of r lb of these different articles when burnt in a tubular See also:boiler are—coal, 8 lb ; dry peat, 4 lb; dry wood, 3'58-3'52 lb; cotton stalks or megasse, 3.2-2.7 lb; straw, 2.46-2.3o lb . Owing to the siliceous nature of the ash of sraw, it is desirable to have a means of clearing the See also:grate bars from slags and clinkers at See also:short intervals, and to use a steam See also:jet to clear the tubes from similar deposits . The See also:common fuel of See also:India and See also:Egypt is derived from the dung of camels and oxen, moulded into thin cakes, and dried in the See also:sun . It has a very See also:low heating power, and in burning gives off acrid ammoniacal smoke and vapour . Somewhat similar are the tan cakes made from spent tanners' bark, which are used to some extent in eastern France and in See also:Germany . They are made by moulding the spent bark into cakes, which are then slowly dried by exposure to the air .

Their effect is about See also:

equivalent to 8o and 30% of equal weights of wood and coal respectively . Sulphur, phosphorus and silicon, the other principal combustible elements, are only of limited application as fuels . The first is used in the See also:liquidation of sulphur-bearing rocks . The ore is piled into large heaps, which are ignited at the bottom, a certain proportion, from one-See also:fourth to one-third, of the sulphur content being sacrificed, in See also:order to raise the See also:mass to a sufficient temperature to allow the See also:remainder to melt and run down to the See also:collecting See also:basin . Another application is in the so-called " pyritic smelting," where ores of See also:copper (q.v.) containing iron See also:pyrites, FeS2i are smelted with appropriate fluxes in a hot blast, without preliminary roasting, the sulphur and iron of the pyrites giving sufficient heat by oxidation to liquefy both slag and See also:metal . Phosphorus, which is of value from its low igniting point, receives its only application in the manufacture of See also:lucifer matches . The high temperature produced by burning phosphorus is in See also:part due to the product of combustion (phosphoric See also:acid) being solid, and therefore there is less heat absorbed than would be the See also:case with a gaseous product . The same effect is observed in a still more striking manner with silicon, which in the only special case of its application to the production of heat, namely, in the See also:Bessemer process of See also:steel-making, gives rise to an enormous increase of temperature in the metal, sufficient indeed to keep the iron melted . The See also:absolute calorific value of silicon is See also:lower than that of carbon, but the product of combustion (See also:silica) being non-volatile at all See also:furnace temperatures, the whole of the heat See also:developed is available for heating the molten iron, instead of a considerable part being consumed in the See also:work of volatilization, as is the case with carbonic See also:oxide, which See also:burns to See also:waste in the air . Assay and Valuation of Carbonaceous Fuels.—The utility or value of a fuel depends upon two principal factors, namely, its calorific power and its calorific intensity or pyrometric effect, that Calorific is, the sensible temperature of the products of combustion . power . The first of these is See also:constant for any particular product of combustion independently of the method by which the burning is effected, whether by oxygen, air or a reducible metallic oxide .

It is most conveniently determined in the laboratory by measuring the heat evolved during the combustion of a given weight of the fuel . The method of See also:

Lewis See also:Thompson is one of the most useful . The calorimeter consists of a copper See also:cylinder in which a weighed quantity of coal intimately mixed with 10–12 parts of a mixture of 3 parts of See also:potassium chlorate and 1 of potassium nitrate is deflagrated under a copper case like a diving-See also:bell, placed at the bottom of a deep See also:glass See also:jar filled with a known weight of water . The mixture is fired by a fuse of See also:lamp-cotton previously soaked in a See also:nitre See also:solution and dried . The gases produced by the combustion rising through the water are cooled, with a corresponding increase of temperature in the latter, so that the difference between the temperature observed before and after the experiment See also:measures the heat evolved . The See also:instrument is so constructed that 30 grains (2 grammes) of coal are burnt in 29,010 grains of water, or in the proportion of I to 937, these See also:numbers being selected that the observed rise of temperature in See also:Fahrenheit degrees corresponds to the required evaporative value in pounds, subject only to a correction for the amount of heat absorbed by the mass of the instrument, for which a special coefficient is required and must be experimentally determined . The See also:ordinary See also:bomb calorimeter is also used . An approximate method is based upon the reduction of See also:lead oxide by the carbon and hydrogen of the coal, the amount of lead reduced affording a measure of the oxygen expended, whence the heating power may be calculated, i part of pure carbon being capable of producing 341 times its weight of lead . The operation is performed by mixing the weighed See also:sample with a large excess of litharge in a crucible, and exposing it to a See also:bright red heat for a short See also:time . After cooling, the crucible is broken and the reduced See also:button of lead is cleaned and weighed . The results obtained by this method are less accurate with coals containing much disposable hydrogen and iron pyrites than with those approximating to See also:anthracite, as the heat equivalent of the hydrogen in excess of that required to form water with the oxygen. of the coal is calculated as carbon, while it is really about four times as great . Sulphur in iron pyrites also acts as a reducing See also:agent upon litharge, and increases the apparent effect in a similar manner .

The evaporative power of a coal found by the above methods, and also by calculating the See also:

separate calorific factors of the components as determined by the chemical See also:analysis, is always consider-ably above that obtained by actual combustion under a steam boiler, as in the latter case numerous See also:sources of loss, such as imperfect combustion of gases, loss of unburnt coal in cinders, &c., come into See also:play, which cannot be allowed for in laboratory experiments . It is usual, therefore, to determine the value of a coal by the combustionof a weighed quantity in the furnace of a boiler, and measuring the amount of water evaporated by the heat developed . In a See also:research upon the heating power and other properties of coal for See also:naval use, carried out by the German See also:admiralty, the results tabulated below were obtained with coals form different localities . The heats of combustion of elements and compounds will be found in most of the larger See also:works on See also:physical and chemical constants; a convenient See also:series is given in the Annuaire du See also:Bureau See also:des Longitudes, appearing in alternate years . The following figures for the principal fuel elements are taken from the issue for 1908; they are expressed in gramme " calories " or heat units, signifying the weight of water in grammes that can be raised 1 ° C. in temperature by the combustion of 1 gramme of the substance, when it is oxidized to the condition shown in the second See also:column: Element . Product of Combustion . Calories . Hydrogen S Water, See also:H2O, condensed to liquid 34,500 as vapour 29,650 Carbon— . Carbon dioxide, See also:CO2 . 7,868 See also:Diamond See also:Graphite . 7,900 Amorphous 8,133 Silicon Silicon dioxide, SiO2 6,414 Amorphous Crystallized 6,570 Phosphorus Phosphoric pentoxide, P2Oe 5,958 Sulphur . Sulphur dioxide, SO2, gaseous 2,165 The results may also be expressed in terms of the atomic equivalent of the combustible by multiplying the above values by the atomic weight of the substance, 12 for carbon, 28 for silicon, &c .

In all fuels containing hydrogen the calorific value as found by the calorimeter is higher than that obtainable under working conditions by an amount equal to the latent heat of volatilization of water which reappears as heat when the vapour is condensed, though under ordinary conditions of use the vapour passes away uncondensed . This gives rise to the distinction of higher and lower calorific values for such substances, the latter being those generally used in practice . The See also:

differences for the more important See also:compound gaseous fuels are as follows: Higher . Lower . See also:Acetylene, C2H2 11,920 11,500 See also:Ethylene, C2H4 11,88o 11,120 Methane, See also:CH4 . 13,240 11,910 Carbon monoxide, CO 2,440 2,440 The calorific intensity or pyrometric effect of any particular fuel depends upon so many variable elements that it cannot be deter-See also:mined except by actual experiment . The older method Calorific was to multiply the weight of the products of combustion intensity. by their specific neats, but this gave untrustworthy results as a See also:rule, on See also:account of two circumstances—the great increase in specific heat at high temperatures in compound gases such as water and carbon dioxide, and their instability when heated to i800° or 2000° . At such temperatures See also:dissociation to a notable extent takes See also:place, especially with the latter substance, which is also readily. reduced to carbon monoxide when brought in contact with carbon at a red heat—a See also:change which is attended with a large heat absorption . This effect is higher with soft kinds of carbon, such as charcoal or soft coke, than with dense coke, gas See also:retort carbon or graphite . These latter substances, therefore, are used when an intense See also:local heat is required, as for example, in the Deville furnace, to which air is supplied under pressure . Such a method is, however, only of very special application, the ordinary method being to See also:supply air to the fire in excess of that required to burn the fuel to prevent the reduction of the carbon dioxide . The See also:volume of flame, however, is increased by inert gas, and there is a proportionate diminution of the heating effect .

Under the most favourable conditions, when the air employed has been previously raised to a high temperature and pressure, the highest attainable flame temperature from carbonaceous fuel seems to be about 2100°–2300° C.; this is realized in the bright spots or " eyes " of the tuyeres of blast furnaces . Very much higher temperatures may be reached when the products of combustion are not volatile, and the operation can be effected by using the fuel and oxidizing agent in the proportions exactly Slag See also:

left Ashes in See also:Soot in Water ova- in Grate . Ashpit . Flues. poraof by I lb of Coal Westphalian gas coals . 0.33–6.42 2.83– 6.53 0.32–0'46 6.60—7.45 lb Do. bituminous coals 0.98–9.10 1.97– 9.63 0.24–0.88 7.30-8.66 Do. dry coals . 1.93–5.70 4.37–1o.63 0.24–0.48 7.03–8.51 Silesian coals . . 0.92–1.30 3.15– 3.50 0.24–0.30 6.73–7.10 Welsh steam coals 1.20–4.07 4.07 0.32 8'41 See also:Newcastle coals . 1.92 2'57 0.35 7.28 Calorific Value . required for perfect combustion and intimately mixed . These conditions are met in the " Thermit " process of See also:Goldschmidt, where finely divided aluminium is oxidized by the oxide of some similar metal, such as iron, manganese or See also:chromium, the reaction being started by a primer of magnesium and See also:barium peroxide . The reaction is so rapidly effected that there is an enormous rise in temperature, estimated to be 5400° F . (3000° C.), which is sufficient to melt the most refractory metals, such as chromium .

The slag consists of alumina which crystallizes in the forms of See also:

corundum and See also:ruby, and is utilized as an abrasive under the name of corubin . The chemical examination includes the determination of (I) moisture, (2) ash, (3) coke, (4) volatile matter, (5) fixed carbon in coke, (6) sulphur, (7) See also:chlorine, (8) phosphorus . Moisture is deter-mined by noting the loss in weight when a sample is heated at See also:I000 for about one See also:hour . The ash is determined by heating a sample in a muffle furnace until all the combustible matter has been burnt off . The ash, which generally contains silica, oxides of the alkaline earths, ferric oxide (which gives the ash a red See also:colour), sulphur, &c., is analysed by the ordinary See also:gravimetric methods . The determination of coke is very important on account of the conclusions concerning the nature of the coal which it permits to be See also:drawn . A sample is finely powdered and placed in a covered See also:porcelain crucible, which is surrounded by an See also:outer one, the space between them being packed with small coke . The crucibles are heated in a See also:wind furnace for t to if See also:hours, then allowed to cool, the inner crucible removed, and the coke weighed . The coke may be (I) pulverulent, (2) slightly fritted, (3) spongy and swelled, (4) compact . Pulverulent cokes indicate a non-caking bituminous coal, rich in oxygen if the amount be below 60%, but if the amount be very much less it generally indicates a lignite; if the amount be above 8o % it indicates an anthracite containing little oxygen or hydrogen . A fritted coke indicates a slightly coking coal, while the spongy See also:appearance points to a highly coking coal which has been partly fused in the furnace . A compact coke is yielded by See also:good coking coals, and is usually large in amount .

Phoenix-squares

The volatile matters are determined as the loss of weight on coking less the amount of moisture . The " fixed carbon " is the carbon retained in the coke, which contains in addition the ash already determined . The fixed carbon is therefore the difference between the coke and the ash, and may be determined from these figures; or it may be determined directly by burning off the coke in a muffle and noting the loss in weight . Sulphur may be present as (I) organic sulphur, (2) as iron pyrites or other sulphides, (3) as the sulphates of See also:

calcium, aluminium and other metals; but the amount is generally so small that only the See also:total sulphur is determined . This is effected by heating a mixture of the fuel with See also:lime and See also:sodium carbonate in a porcelain dish to redness in a muffle until all the carbonaceous matter has been burnt off . The residue, which contains the sulphur as calcium sulphate, is transferred to a See also:beaker containing water to which a little See also:bromine has been added . Hydrochloric acid is carefully added, the liquid filtered and the residue washed . To the filtrate See also:ammonia is added, and then barium chloride, which precipitates the sulphur as barium sulphate . Sulphur existing in the form of sulphates may be removed by washing a sample with boiling water and determining the sulphuric acid in the solution . The washed sample is then fused in the usual way to determine the proportion of sulphur existing as iron pyrites . The distinction between sulphur present as sulphate and sulphide is of importance in the examination of coals intended for iron smelting, as the sulphates of the earthy metals are reduced by the gases of the furnace to sulphides, which pass into the slag without affecting the quality of the iron produced, while the sulphur of the metallic sulphides in the ash acts prejudicially upon the metal . Coals for gas-making should contain little sulphur, as the gases produced in the combustion are noxious and have very corrosive properties .

Chlorine is rarely determined, but when present in quantity it corrodes copper and See also:

brass boiler tubes, with which consequently chlorine-bearing coals cannot be used . The element is determined by fusing with soda lime in a muffle, dissolving the residue in water and precipitating with See also:silver nitrate . Phosphorus is determined in the ash by fusing it with a mixture of sodium and potassium See also:carbonates, extracting the residue with hydrochloric acid, and twice evaporating to dryness with the same acid . The residue is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, a few drops of ferric chloride added, and then ammonia in excess . The precipitate of ferric phosphate is then treated as in the ordinary estimation of See also:phosphates . If it be necessary to determine the absolute amount of carbon and hydrogen in a fuel, the dried sample is treated with copper oxide as in the ordinary estimation of these elements in organic compounds . (H . B.) Liquid Fuel . Vegetable oil is not used for fuel except for laboratory purposes, partly because its constituent parts are less adaptable for combustion under the conditions necessary for steam-raising, but chiefly because of the commercial difficulty of producing it with sufficient See also:economy to compete with See also:mineral fuel either solid or liquid . The use of See also:petroleum as fuel had See also:long been recognized as ascientific possibility, and some attempts had been made to adopt it in practice upon a commercial See also:scale, but the insufficiency, and still more the irregularity, of the supplies prevented it from coming into See also:practical use to any important extent until about 1898, when discoveries of oil specially adapted by chemical composition for fuel purposes changed the aspect of the situation, These discoveries of special oil were made first in See also:Borneo and later in See also:Texas, and experience in treating the See also:oils from both localities has shown that while not less adapted to produce kerosene or See also:illuminating oil, they are better adapted to produce fuel oil than either the See also:Russian or the Pennsylvanian products . Texas oil did not hold its place in the See also:market for long, because the influx of water into the See also:wells lowered their yield, but discoveries of fuel oil in See also:Mexico have come later and will help to maintain the See also:balance of the See also:world's supply, although this is still a See also:mere fraction of the assured supply of coal . With regard to the chemical properties of petroleum, it is not necessary to say more in the present place than that the lighter and more volatile constituents, known commercially as See also:naphtha and See also:benzene, must be removed by distillation in order to leave a residue composed principally of See also:hydrocarbons which, while containing the necessary carbon for combustion, shall be sufficiently free from volatile qualities to avoid premature ignition and consequent danger of See also:explosion .

Attempts have been made to use crude oil for fuel purposes, and these have had some success in the neighbourhood of the oil wells and under boilers of unusually good See also:

ventilation both as regards their chimneys and the surroundings of their stokeholds; but for reasons both of See also:commerce and of safety it is not desirable to use crude oil where some distillation is possible . The more See also:complete the process of distillation, and the consequent removal of the volatile constituents, the higher the flash-point, and the more turgid and viscous is the fuel resulting; and if the process is carried to an extreme, the residue or fuel becomes difficult to ignite by the ordinary process of spraying or atomizing mechanically at the moment immediately preceding combustion . The proportions which have been found to work efficiently in practice are as follows: Carbon . . 88•oo % Hydrogen . . 10.75 Oxygen 1.25 °/ 0 Total . . too The See also:standards of safety for liquid fuel as determined by flash-point are not yet finally settled, and are changing from time to time . The See also:British admiralty require a flash-point of 270 F., and to this high See also:standard, and the consequent viscosity of the fuel used by vessels in the British. See also:fleet, may partly be attributed the low See also:rate of combustion that was at first found possible in them . The German admiralty have fixed a flash-point of 187° F., and have used oil of this standard with perfect safety, and at the same time with much higher measure of evaporative See also:duty than has been attained in British See also:war-vessels . In the British See also:mercantile marine See also:Lloyd's See also:Register has permitted fuel with a flash-point as low as 150° F. as a minimum, and no harm has resulted . The British See also:Board of See also:Trade, the See also:department of the See also:government which controls the safety of passenger vessels, has fixed a higher standard upon the basis of a minimum of 185° . In the case of locomotives the flash-point as a standard of safety is of less importance than in the case of stationary or marine boilers, because the storage is more open, and the ventilation, both of the storage tanks and the boilers during combustion, much more perfect than in any other class of steam-boilers . The process of refining by distillation is also necessary to reduce two impurities which greatly retard storage and combustion, i.e. water and sulphur .

Water is found in all crude petroleum as it issues from the wells, and sulphur exists in important quantities in oil from the Texas wells . Its removal was at first found very expensive, but there no longer exists difficulty in this respect, and large quantities of petroleum fuel practically free from sulphur are now regularly exported from Texas to New See also:

York and to See also:Europe . Water mixed with fuel is in intimate See also:mechanical relation, and ,frequently so remains in considerable quantities even after the process of distillation . It is in fact so thoroughly mixed as to form an emulsion . The effect of feeding such a mixture into a furnace is extremely injurious, because the water must be decomposed chemically into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, thus absorbing a large quantity of heat which would otherwise be utilized for evaporation . Water also directly delays combustion by producing from the jet a long, dull, red flame instead of a short bright, See also:white flame, and the process of combustion, which should take place by See also:vaporization of the oil near the furnace mouth, is postponed and transferred to the upper part of the combustion-See also:box, the tubes, and even the See also:base of the chimney, producing loss of heat and, injury to the boiler structure . The most effective means of See also:ridding the fuel of this dangerous impurity is by heat and See also:settlement . The coefficients of expansion of water and oil by heat are substantially different, and a moderate rise of temperature therefore separates the particles and precipitates the water, which is easily drawn off—leaving the oil available for use . The heating and precipitation are usually performed upon a patented See also:system of settling tanks and heating apparatus known as the Flannery-See also:Boyd system, which has proved itself indispensable for the successful use at See also:sea of petroleum fuel containing any large proportion of water . The laboratory and mechanical use of petroleum for fuel has already been referred to, but it was not until the See also:year 187o that petroleum was applied upon a wider and commercial scale . In the course of distillation of Russian crude petroleum for the production of kerosene or lamp oil, large quantities of refuse were produced—known by the Russian name of astatki—and these were found an incumbrance and useless for any commercial purpose . To a Russian oil-refiner gifted with mechanical See also:instinct and the See also:genius for invention occurred the See also:idea of utilizing the waste product as fuel by spraying or atomizing it with steam, so that, the thick and sluggish fluid being broken up into particles, the air necessary for combustion could have free See also:access to it .

The earliest apparatus for this purpose was a See also:

simple piece of gas-See also:tube, into which the thick oil was fed; by another connexion steam at high pressure was admitted to an inner and smaller tube, and, the end of the tube nearest to the furnace being open, the pressure of the steam blew the oil into the furnace, and by its velocity See also:broke it up into spray . The apparatus worked with success from the first . Experience pointed out the proper proportionate sizes for the inlets of steam and oil, the proper pressure for the steam, and the proportionate sizes for the orifices of See also:admission to the furnaces, as well as the sizes of air-openings and best arrangements of fire-bricks in the furnaces themselves; and what had been a waste product now became a by-product of great value . Practically all the steam power in See also:South See also:Russia, both for factories and See also:navigation of the inland seas and rivers, is now raised from astatki fuel . In the Far See also:East, including See also:Burma and parts of See also:China and See also:Japan, the use of liquid fuel spread rapid