OIL FUEL FOR METALLURGICAL OPERATIONS Fuel for metallurgical purposes must have certain properties not so essential in boiler furnaces. This is especially true in connection with reverberatory practice. A coking coal will not give satisfactory results owing to the rapidity with which the volatile matter is given off, leaving a heavy bed of coke on the grates which burns very slowly.
The use of pulverized coal has its disadvantages, also, one of which is the difficulty of regulating the air supply. If too much is admitted, the result will be a decrease in furnace temperature, and if too little air is supplied, incomplete combustion will result, often causing a deposit of carbon on top of the charge, thus forming a non-conductor which seriously impairs the efficiency of the furnace.
Another objection to the use of pulverized coal in reverberatory furnaces is the filling of flues with fine ashes, rendering the recovery of waste heat from the furnace gases an impossibility.
Numerous extended experiments with oil fuel in con nection with smelting operations have been conducted by men well versed in this science, and the results obtained have been extremely satisfactory. Perfect regulation of air and oil are obtainable at all times with a minimum labor and handling charge, and the completeness of combustion insures the recovery of a high percentage of the heat in the escaping gases. A paper read before the Institute of Mining and Metal lurgy, London, Nov. IS, igoo, by Dr. L. D. Ricketts, gen eral manager of the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, Cananea, Mexico, covers the subject of oil versus coal in smelting operations very thoroughly. Some data taken from this article is given below: