Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1916 — Turning Garbage into Fuel [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Turning Garbage into Fuel

by Robert H.Moulton

How cities and towns can convert this troublesome waste product into practical profit:: An enterprise which promises to yield big returns to wide-awake communities in America

JK W ANVFACTURING a highgi’mle fuel from garbage is a new industry that promJBryn A ises to solve the problem of disposing of the waste of cities and towns. In Noventber of last yeardhe first experimenta l -ptant of tho disposal process was established in San Antonio, Tex It proved so successfulthat the pity of Austin decided to order the construction of a plant, and the factory, which was opened a few weeks ago, is now running to full capacity, - -a- sanitary manner and converting it into bricks of fuel which tests have prove*] to be the equal~of trttuminoiis~coaT. The inventor of the new fuel Is Mr. E. L. Culver of Chicago, who began investigating the possibility and practicability of commercializing municipal garbage about five years ago. As a result of a long series of experiments he proved the adaptability of a method for making fuel bricks out of the refuse. In addition to the plant at Austin, Regina, Canada, has entered into contract for the erection of a municipal plant. The process of manufacturing Oakoal, a name given to the new fuel because of its similarity to oak wood in burning, is similar to the making of stiff mud bricks, practically the same machinery being used, although much less power is used, and less care is required to produce perfect bricks of fuel. The combination producing tire best results for domestic purposes is a mixture of equal parts of coal dust — the waste dust from coal mines—and garbage, with the addition of about 7 per cent of coal tar. For steam purposes no coal dust is required. Each brick weighs, when dry, two pounds, so that I.IMKI bricks make a ton. For convenience in handling, as well as the protection of the public against short weights, the fuel is sold schedule of prices for 1 .(Mio or 10U bricks. One still mud brick machine of the type used at the Austin plant turns out in eight hours' run. 25,000 bricks, —or 25 Tons of Oakorttp'uml in erectingplants this is termed a one-unit plaqt, which has a full capacity of 75 tons dally. In erecting municipal plants, other units can be installed to suit the capacity of the city, or until all of the available binding material of the city is consumed. It is estimated that a city will produce for each one thousand people approximately a" ton of garbage a day, or for domestic purposes oyer two tons of brick fuel. The manufacture of the new fuel is extremely interesting inasmuch as it is made up entirely of was'e material "handled I y comm* n labor. The waste which the city formerly had to burn —ln an Incinerator at a considerable »x----penso i - now taken by carts direct to the factory, where it is dumped op a sorting platform J;U ra J' ed wi,h creosote as a sanitary"precaution, as well as to allow the sorters to work in comfort. Openings are provided in these platforms where the different parts of the garbage are dropped into conveyors arid conveyed as follows: the pieces of iron to a storage; the bottles to a washing tank, where they are sterilized before being stored; the rags to a washing machine, where they are sterilized by being washed in boiling water; the ashes, stone, brick, etc., to a storage and used for fills, and the tin cans to a press where they are baled and conveyed to storage. That which is left and of a combustible nature is placed on a large 40-foot

belt three feet wide and carried to a huge grinder which reduces it to fine pieces. From this grinder it is conveyed to a pulping machine, where hot water and live steam is applied together with a certain percentage of tar, which acts in -conjunction- with the hot water and steam as a thorough disinfectant of the product and also as deodorizer of the smoke of the fuel while being consumed as well as a deodorizer of the = fuel itself. The mass is thoroughly mixed in this machine and is reduced to a pulp. From this machine the mass is conveyed to a mixer, where coal dustjs added in the desired proportion, according to the purpose for which the fuel is to be used. For steam purposes, where rapid combustion is required, coal dust is unnecessary. although a very small percentage is- sometimes used, while for domestic purposes, where a slow even fire is desired, the best results are obtained by the addition of 50 per cent of coal dust. From the mixer the mass drops into a molding machine where it is molded into bricks. Then it is conveyed through a drying kiln where the bricks are thoroughly dried. All conveyors, elevators and machinery are tightly inclosed so that there is no escape of dust, and the only odor in the entire plant is the smell of creosote that is contained in the tar. For this reason it is perfectly possible to establish a plant in the business or residential districts of a city without being offensive. The remarkable spec--tacle of seeing old shoes, hats.„papety •rags. straw, manure, house garbage, night soil and a variety of other waste products being thrown into one machine and emerging from another in the shape of a perfect fuel-brick, without odor and bearing no resemblance whatever to the original materials, is almost miraculous.

Among the advantages claimed for the new fuel are that it will not slack, no matter how long it is kept in storage, that it is Impervious to water, and that it burns to ashes without leaving a semblance of clinkers. It also produces practically no ordor and very when burning. There is a very large percentage, often as high as 23 per cent, of the ordinary coals, that escapes through the grates without being consumed, so that it fre-

qnently pays to sift the ashes in order to recover a of this amount. The fuel bricks, on the other hand, due to their shape and the thorough distribution of their parts, are consumed with almost perfect combustion. The shape of the brick is retained until it is entirely consumed, after which a fine, light, cigarlike ash remains. Experiments made

by Dr. William B. Philips, director of the bureau of economic geology and technology of the University of Texas, showed that twelve pounds of the garbage fuel bricks will burn on an average of two and a half hours in a small stove, as againsttwo hours and twenty minutes of the same amount of lump bituminous coal, and will produce the same amount of heat as the latter. The average cost of manufacturing the fuel at ther AusUn“plans ton, without considering the revenue derived by the city from the sale of byproducts, such as rags, tin cans, bottles, brass, copper, zinc, rubber, etc. Dr. F. M. Gunn of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who recently delivered a series of lectures on sanitation and garbage disposal at the University of Texas, expressed the opinion that the process which Mr. Culver invented is one of the most promising schemes so-far advanced for handling city refuse; that it appeared to him that it was the best way of getting rid of waste and rubbish in a sanitary manner, and that the method might work a new epoch in the garbage and fuel problems of the country.