INDUSTRY – Peat as a smelting fuel
Accreditation the Redcar and Saltburn News 17/12/1874
PEAT AS’ A SMELTING FUEL
Mr R. K. Aitchison, of Redcar, has taken out a patent for a new smelting fuel, in which peat is the principal ingredient. His object is to eliminate the sulphur and phosphorus from the ironstone in the process of smelting, and for this purpose he introduces into the masticated peat, previous to compression, 9% of sodium and chloride of calcium, also charcoal. The very best coke contains 1% of sulphur, and thereby adds fuel’s to the evil existing in the iron; Pete does not possess this undesirable quantity, being free from phosphorus and sulphur, and is consequently a carboniser in the conjunction with metal. Should Mr Aitchison’s theory prove correct, and the diminution of phosphorus be effected by the fuel, it must inevitably become a great boon to the iron manufacturers.
Lol Hansom August 25, 2014 Industry