GINEERING CHEMISTRY S H E D BY T H E A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L S O C I E T Y W A L T E R J. M U R P H Y , E D I T O R
Will
Sei-ence Solve the Coal Problem?
N THE same day that every newspaper in the country recently carried on its front page President Truman’s message to Congress requesting special lahor legislation, many of the larger dailies also reported 111 inside pages the first Remsen nleniorial Lecture given by Roger Xdams, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the AMERICAN CHEMICA41.SOCIETY, before the Maryland Section. Very few, if any, linked Adams’ statement with the cwal strike, yet the two news items might well be condidered together in any long-time evaluation of the impact of scientific developments on social, political, and industrial problems. Briefly, Professor Adanis suggested that just as sulfur ip melted in the ground and pumped out in liquid form, it is not too fantastic to believe that with cheap oxygen, the production of which has been reported in Russia 2nd is being investigated in this country, coal may be burned in the mine. The heat generated in the subsequent burning of the gas produced will provide the power for a utility plant nearby. Further, the selfw i l e gas might be used as the raw material for many products. Professor Adanis was very careful to point out that such developments may not take place tomorrow, but are interesting pohsibilities. Indeed, the time for such developments may not be far off. The June, 1946, issue of Canadian Chemistry und Process Industries carries a translation of a paper by G. 0. Nusinov on the research Russian scientists have conducted in underground coal gasification. Even though the article describes work only up to 1943, sub3tantial progress is reported. Large underground seams have been turned into producers, and gas generation u as accomplished with air, oxygen, and intermediate blends. Despite setbacks caused by the German ini-wsion, several good-sized installations operated a5 early as 1941 and supplied gas for adjoining industrial plants. Quality of gas wac. not high, hoirever, but was producer grade or slightly better, depending on oxygen proportion. The Russian underground process is still obviously inferior to modern American practice in many
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respects, but appears to be well out of the stage of visionary speculation and into that of engineering tests and planned quantitative experiments. With the present conditions in the coal indusbry, .Imerican investigations along these lines may, and probably will, be stimulated. Coal-mining operations under the most favorable conditions are hazardous and highly inefficient. Coal mining is an unpleasant, uninspiring, and none too healthy occupation. Both in -1merica and Great Britain miners who mere in the armed forces during the recent conflict are turning to other means of livelihood. No one can be critical of men who seek jobs other than one that requires spending most waking hours hundreds of feet below the qurface of the earth in dank, dark, and dangerous mines. If the Adams’ prognostications do come to pass in *\merica, they will be listed in the category of technological progress and there will be some, possibly many, who will raise the usual cry that once more science has created unemployment. It is unlikely, of course, that coal mining will cease, even if the technical difficulties of burning coal in the mine are perfected, but as in other cases hardships created temporarily are of little importance compared to the long-term benefits that would follow. Labor would benefit, for it would find work in fields that are healthier, safer, and capable of paying higher wages. Owners of coal mines might see increased employment of coal as a raw material for either the development of power or the production of chemicals and hundreds of end products. The chemical industry would benefit from an increased supply of raw materials at lower costs. Lastly, but certainly not of the least importance, the general public would gain through greater production of many useful articles of commerce a t reduced prices. Politicians and labor leaders make the headlines nhile the scientists usually are relegated to the page following the society columns, but inexorably the progress made by the men and women of the laboratories has the most profound and lasting effect on the trend of human events.
