The cost of power, a big business problem

Preface

THIS MANUAL was originally written for private distribution among about 200 manufacturers. It is the result of the co-operative effort of these manufacturers to eliminate guess-work methods in the selection and purchase of coal and the development of power.

The combined experience of these coal users in the purchase and use of nearly $50,000,000 worth of coal has reduced this complex problem to basic principles. No plans or theories are advanced which have not had the test of actual use, and each fact given in the following pages has been verified by a large number of observations.

This problem of the Cost of Power necessitates the application of several branches of exact science for its solution, but it is, after all, the problem of the business man — of the man who pays for the power. Although he may delegate the details of his power problem to others, the business executive of to-day must have a clear conception of this problem, that he may point the way to improvement and set a standard of achievement for his organization.

In the form here presented, the book has been planned to fill the need of business men who have not had an opportunity to study the broader aspects of the problem; and its service is to supplement the reader's knowledge with an analysis of the experience of many users of coal and makers of power.

THE AUTHORS

PART I Page

Do You Know What Your Power Costs? 13

Do You Know What It Costs to Make Steam? 14

What the Business Man Needs to Know About Coal . . .14

How Do You Select Your Coal? 15

Do You Know the Value of the Coal You Buy? 15

Have You a Basis for Establishing a Standard in Buying Coal? 16 Why a Central Bureau Has Been Organized to Solve These

Problems 17

Why Every Industry Has Its Coal Problem 18

Are You Getting Full Value Out of the Coal You Have

Bought? 18

Are You Burning Up Your Profits? 21

PART II How a Coal Test Differs from a Chemical Analysis .... 22

What Terms are Used in Coal Testing? 22

What is Ash and Moisture? 23

What is Volatile? 23

What is Fixed Carbon? 24

What is Sulphur? 24

Why "B.T.U." is the Measure of Heat Value 24

What is the Difference Between Kind and Quality of Coal? 25

Why the "Ton" is Not a Measure of Fuel Value 26

How Much Does Coal Vary in Quality? 26

How to Interpret this Tabulation 27

How Impartial Data is Valuable as a Guide in Buying Coal . 28

How Many Grades are There of Each Kind of Coal? ... 28

How to fix the Responsibility for the Quality of Coal ... 39 How You are Affected by the Preparation of Coal for the

Market 31

Why Uniformity is a Factor in Selecting Coal 32

What the Government Advises - 34

Why Good Reputation Does Not Guarantee Coal Quality . . 34

TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

Page

How You May Pay for Water at the Price of Coal .... 35

How Much Moisture Does Coal Contain? 36

How Moisture in Coal Varies with the Seasons 39

How the "B.T.U." is a Positive Measure of Value .... 41

Why the Calorimeter is a Necessity 42

Why It Is Not Safe to Depend On Ash Tests Alone ... 42 Why It Is Difficult to Obtain Accurate Heat Value Determinations 43

How Heat Determinations Have Been Made More Reliable 44

PART III How Volatile Matter Indicates the Kind of Coal .... 46

How Coal Is Scientifically Classified 46

How Heat Values of Different Classes of Coals Compare . . 47

What Is Shown by Typical Tests of Three Important Classes 48 Why the Amount of Volatile Is Important in Selecting the

Kind of Coal to Burn 49

How the Classes of Coal are Further Subdivided After Mining 50

Why the Size of Anthracite Is Important 52

Why Sulphur Is an Undesirable Element in Coal .... 53

Why Low Sulphur Coals are Usually to be Preferred ... 54

How to Avoid Clinker Troubles 57

How Systematic Tests Simplify Coal Troubles 57

How Often Should Coal Be Tested 58

How to Take a Representative Coal Sample 60

How Good Sampling Has Been Demonstrated 61

How a Plant Manager Proved the Accuracy of Sampling . . 62 How the Testing Plant is a Model of Accuracy, Speed and

Efficiency 63

How Each Test is Subjected to Closest Scrutiny .... 64 Why You Pay More and Get Less by Making Your Own Coal

Tests 65

How the Fuel Engineering Company Protects Its Clients . . 66 How Test Reports are Mailed Regularly the Day Following

the Receipt of Sample — or, if Necessary, the Same Day 66

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)

PART IV Page

How Coal Tests Can Be Easily Read in Terms of Money . . 68

How the Value of Coal Is Computed 69

How Coal Tests are Translated into Money 70

Why Many Coal Losses are Not Discovered 71

Why Wide Differences in Money Value are not Limited to

Any One Kind of Coal 72

How the Cost of Transportation from Different Fields is an Important Factor in Selecting the Most Economical Coal

to Use 75

How the Location of the Plant is an important Factor in Selecting the Most Economical Coal to Use 77

Why Accurate Coal Quality Reports are Necessary for the

Operating Department 78

Why Greater Efficiency Does Not Always Mean Lower Cost 79

Why "Evaporation" Alone Does Not Indicate Efficiency . . 80

Part V

How the Coal Test Plays an Important Part in a Vital Business Problem 89

What is This Central Bureau of Accurate Coal Facts for the Buyer of Coal? 83

How the Fuel Engineering Company Records are Collected . 84

How to Secure Information from this Confidential Library of Records 85

How the Record of a Particular Coal or Coal Dealer Can be Found in Less Than a Minute 85

How the Records are Used by Coal Consumers to Save Money 86

How These Records Help the Coal Buyer to Reach the Correct Decision 87

How it is Easy to Settle Each Coal Question as it Arises, Conclusively and Promptly — if You Have the Facts . . 88

How You Can Find Unexpected Sources of Coal Supply . . 89

How this Bureau of Coal Information Meets Your Emergencies 90

How One Manufacturer Saved the Cost of a Year's Service by Asking One Question 93

TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONCLUDED)

Page

How Current Additions to the Records are Placed on Your

Desk Each Month Through a Loose-Leaf System of

Printed Monthly Reports 94

Why Now is the Time to Make the Big Savings by Scientific

Methods in Coal Buying 95

Why Specifications are the Clincher of the Coal Purchase

Problem 96

How Specifications Secure Lower Prices for the Buyer . . 97 Why Specifications Do Not Depend Upon Penalties or Price

Reductions for Their Value 98

What the United States Government Bureau of Mines Advises

in Bulletin 41 98

Why Imperfect Specifications May Be More Costly Than None 99 How Coal Specifications Have Been Proven a Success . . . 100 How an Association Can Save Money for Its Members by the

Collective Buying of Coal 102

What One Prominent Manufacturers' Association Says About

Collective Buying 103

How States and Cities Can Safeguard Coal Purchases . . . 104

PART VI How Coal Is Turned Into Power 105

How Power Losses Can Be Prevented 105

How the Savings Disclosed by the Power Plant Balance Sheet

Mount Into Money 106

How the Energy Account Looks in Actual Figures .... 108 How This Same Energy Account Was Made to Save Money 108

How Every Power Problem Is Different Ill

Why the Energy Account Should Show the Losses for 365

Days of the Year 112

How to Open the Energy Account 113

How the Services of the Operating Engineer Become More

Valuable 114

How the Coal Service Assists the Plant Manager . . . .115 How the Power Service Protects and Assists You at Every

Step from Mine to Delivered Power 115

Why the Cost of Power Is a Big Business Problem . . . .116

Why You Need the Coal Service 117

Why You Need the Power Service 119

The Problem and Its Solution 120

ILLUSTRATIONS AND CHARTS

Page Photograph of Grinding Room in Coal Testing Plant 19

Chart Showing Cross Section of Three Coal Seams 31

Chart Showing Ash Percentages in Semi-Bituminous Coal ... 32

Chart Showing Ash Percentages in No. 1 Buckwheat Coal ... 33

Photograph of Balance Room in Coal Testing Plant 37

Chart Showing Moisture Variations in Coal 40

Chart Showing Steam Sizes of Anthracite Coal 52

Photograph of High Temperature Furnace in Coal Testing

Plant 55

Photograph of Sulphur Room in Coal Testing Plant 55

Photograph of Calorimeter Room in Coal Testing Plant 73

Chart Showing Relative Values of Anthracite and Semi- Bituminous Coal 76

Photograph of Coal Records in Vault 91

Chart Showing Elimination of Losses through Energy Account 107

Photograph of Corner in Library of Coal Records 109

Photograph of General Offices of Fuel Engineering Company of New York 127

IT has been said that we are an industrial nation. I feel that we are only just beginning to be an industrial nation, and shall not be fully entitled to that name until we have a more complete knowledge of the principles on which successful industry is based. Too many of our enterprises are still founded on what has been done rather than on what can be done. The real industrial leader must be guided by future possibilities rather than past performances. The growing disposition among the people of all lands to abolish special privileges of every kind, is going to make it necessary for those who carry on industrial operations to depend more and more upon their own efficiency, and to get away as rapidly as possible from the errors of past practice. We can no longer blindly follow the trail of those who have gone before simply because they were successful. What spelled success yesterday, may spell failure tomorrow. Knowledge, not precedent or opinion, must be our guide. The man whose special training fits him to acquire the necessary knowledge is the engineer; he works with facts which he obtains by investigation; others are usually guided by opinion, which is too often inherited or copied."

PART I Do You Know What Your Power Costs?

To tell you that a plant manager in one of the largest factories in the United States did not know the amount of finished product his factory produced, or the quality of the raw material used, or anything about the economy of its use, undoubtedly would astonish you. You would properly answer : "It cannot be true — such a factory could not exist — it would spell 'failure.' " To tell you that you> perhaps, are one of ten thousand who are cloing this very thing would meet with prompt and emphatic denial. But stop and think a minute :

You are engaged in making a product to sell. It may be anything from rubber bands to locomotives; but whatever it is, you have spent, without doubt, a large sum of money to improve your methods of manufacture — to reduce the cost of your product. The raw material you buy is carefully inspected and tested and probably bought under strict specifications. Your men have been trained to eliminate every useless motion, however small.

But let us ask you two questions : Do you really know wliat your power costs? Do you know how much of that expense is loss?

Do You Know What It Costs to Make Steam?

The foundation of your whole factory system — the first item of expense — is down in the basement, or off in a corner of the yard, forgotten as long as it keeps running — your steam factory — we will call it to distinguish it from the factory that makes your sales-product. You consider it a necessary evil, a constant source of rising expense. It can and should be made a dividend payer.

If steam were your finished product — the only thing that you made — and you were selling it to a machine shop next door, in competition with another steam factory, would you operate your steam factory the wa y y° u do now? Your answer, of course, is that you would not; but that you are now making car wheels, and your hands are too full to give up the necessary time to go into steam making with the care that a central station man does, who is selling power alone.

What the Business Man Needs to Know About Coal.

Let us investigate the conditions in your steam -factory. Where shall we start to put it on the same kind of a business basis as the sales-product factory? The answer is, with the largest single element in the cost of power — coal. We must not waste time, however, in lengthy scientific discussion. The business man must enlist the aid of men trained in the scientific side of the coal problem. With confidence in our scientific foundation, we must jump right into the real practical business questions that must be answered. What is the most economical kind of coal for me to buy as a raw material in the production of power? What coal of this kind, judging from records of actual past performance, will give me the most power for the money? Where can I get it? How can I best protect my interests in contracting for this material? Is my plant turning into power the largest possible amount of this energy that I buy for it? If not, how much is lost 9 and where is the lost energy escaping?

How Do You Select Your Coal?

Most plants to-day simply buy so many tons of coal from some dealer who happened to be on the job when coal was needed, or perhaps because his coal seemed to work more satisfactorily than two or three others that were tried. These plant managers are doing the best they can, without doubt, but often the most economical coal to use in a given plant is rejected because the firing methods are not suited to the coal. Furthermore, any plant dependent solely upon its own organization must be limited to its experience with the few coals it has had an opportunity to try. Before proceeding further it will be well for you to call in your bookkeeper and ask him exactly what you are paying each year for coal — the gross sum of this first cost of raw material.

Do You Know the Value of the Coal You Buy?

This is an important question ; it means dollars and cents — possibly thousands of dollars. Coal varies in character through a thousand gradations, from the anthracite of Pennsylvania to the lignite of Texas, and the value of coal varies tremendously according to the character of the coal seam and the care observed in preparing it for market. How many plant managers, or engineers, know accurately the value of each lot of coal they buy? Few can avoid costly experiments for they have no data in advance on the quality and character of coal offered to them. The result is a tremendous loss — the burning up of profits. Variations in quality equal to ten or fifteen cents a ton can occur without being noticed by your firemen or without being reported to you. Perhaps only a half or a quarter of the deliveries are of slightly inferior quality, but it would pay you well to know it promptly. It is watchfulness at every point that pulls down the cost of power. The plant manager of the past cannot be blamed for guesswork methods in this department of his business. Up to within the past few years the necessary information could not be obtained from any one central organization, or without very expensive investigation.

Have You a Basis for Establishing a Standard in Buying Coal?

Coal testing is only the first step. When you have your coal tested it is valueless unless you have one more important thing, i.e., a basis for comparison. Tests of your coal compared one with another are not sufficient; it is only comparing your own experience of to-day with that of yesterday. The real value of a test is in comparing it with thousands of other tests in hundreds of other factories. You should have the whole coal market before you in exact terms of coal quality. Then only will you be in a position to know whether you are getting the most for your money. The selection and purchase of coaly if done thoroughly, is so bewildering in its complexity and in its countless possibilities that a plant manager, in the midst of his other duties, cannot expect to make an exhaustive investigation of the coal market any more than he would study law rather than submit his legal questions to his attorney.

Why a Central Bureau Has Been Organized to Solve These Problems.

It is this great need of manufacturers and other large coal users that has shown the necessity for an extensive plan of co-operation for the scientific selection and purchase of coal and the economical production of power from it. This has resulted in the establishment of a central bureau managed by specialists whose business it is to gather exact coal and power data from hundreds of coal users and to organize this information so that it can all be focused quickly upon the problems of each plant. This organization is known as the Fuel Engineering Company of New York and confines its operations to this one part of manufacturing costs, based upon practical experience, scientific knowledge, and the accumulation of vitally important data which cannot be secured in any other way.

The Fuel Engineering Company operates a large specialized coal testing plant; but, what is even more important, this company has for years been collecting and indexing coal information. This library of records now includes more than 25,000 tests of coal made for several hundred coal consumers, and is being added to at the rate of about 6,000 a year. Coal dealers and miners are indexed to show at a glance the character of coal they supply, their reliability, and their attitude toward their customers. The coals are indexed to show the quality of each kind, its variations, its adaptability to certain plant conditions, etc.

Why Every Industry Has Its Coal Problem.

Many manufacturers use coal in gas-producing plants, and some lines of industry use the heat from coal in manufacturing processes other than the production of power. Each one of these has its own problem in the selection and purchase of coal, and specialized knowledge of coal is here even more important than in the case of the steam plant. The pottery manufacturer must avoid certain fumes. The terra cotta manufacturer requires a steady supply of heat, well under control. The brass foundry must get a certain amount of heat from a given volume of coal. The cement mill, the iron foundry, the smelter — there are many special coal uses and each one demands an intimate knowledge of coal and the coal market.

Are You Getting Full Value Out of the Coal You Have Bought?

Surprisingly few plants to-day are equipped to measure the amount of water evaporated, or the exact amount of coal used. Unless the amount of the product of the boiler room is known, as well as the quality and amount of raw material, no accurate comparison can be made between the coal or power costs of two periods. Few manufacturers can say definitely that their higher coal bill this year is due to poorer coal, or to the use of a coal not as well suited to the plant, or to wasteful firing methods, or to more steam used (or wasted).

Preparation Room in the Testing Plant of the Fuel Engineering Company, where the coal samples are pulverized and automatically reduced in size for the testing.

Are You Burning Up Your Profits?

This question can be answered only through a thorough knowledge of the coal market, the exact value of the coal you buy, and a continuous record of operating results. The interest of the Fuel Engineering Company is identical with the business man's interest — to keep down the rising cost of power. It does not buy or sell coal, or any form of plant equipment. Its aim is to get the most out of a plant as it stands. The Mechanical Engineering Department specializes on the use of coal, and the elimination of waste in the production of power. For those of its clients who desire it, this department will supervise the manufacture of their power, and thus give to them a complete and accurate check upon every item of power cost, from the selection of the coal to the delivered power. At this point the Fuel Engineering Company Service stops, leaving the problems of manufacturing your sales-product to those best fitted to handle them. The following pages therefore will treat of this technical subject with as little scientific discussion as possible. Facts will be found stated in the business man's measure of results — dollars and cents.

Part II

How a Coal Test Differs from a Chemical Analysis.

The coal test of commercial use is not what is commonly, but incorrectly, called — a "chemical analysis." The coal is burned completely to determine the amount of ash remaining, it is dried in an oven to drive off the moisture, it is subjected to a certain amount of heat for a certain length of time to drive off the volatile, and is burned in an atmosphere of oxygen in a calorimeter to measure the amount of heat developed. Is there anything chemical about these processes? And calorimetry is peculiarly within the field of physics, not chemistry. The sulphur determination alone can be called a chemical test. The real chemical analysis of coal is the ultimate analysis which breaks the coal down into its chemical elements; but the results of this ultimate analysis are of no direct commercial importance ; and if they were, the cost of such tests and the length of time necessary to make them would rob them of all practical usefulness to the business man or plant engineer.

What Terms are Used in Coal Testing.

This coal test — the coal test that the business man needs — tells the amount of ash, or wnburndble material in the coal, the amount of moisture, of sulphur, of volatile matter, and the British Thermal Units. While these terms are no doubt familiar, a few words about each will be in order before we look into the real dollars and cents meaning of each to the business man.

What Is Ash and Moisture?

Ash is the solid incombustible material remaining after the coal is completely burned. It should not be confounded with the refuse, which is removed from the ash-pit of a furnace. All coal contains a certain amount of solid substance called "ash" which is inseparably associated with its other constituents ; but in all coal mined for commercial purposes to-day the amount of this is comparatively small. The major part of the ash in coal as delivered is composed of rock which is found above or below a coal seam, or in the form of partings within the seam. It cannot be measured exactly by the refuse from a furnace, for this always contains a certain amount of combustible matter which is a source of loss in the operation of a power plant, varying in importance with the care in firing methods, and the relation of the equipment to the coal. The laboratory test is the only accurate means of measuring the ash element, for there the coal is burned under ideal conditions, and all of the combustible matter is consumed. Moisture needs little comment. It not only produces no heat, but requires a part of the heat liberated by the coal to drive it off.

What Is Volatile?

Volatile matter is that part of the coal which is driven off in the form of gas, when the coal is subjected to heat. Part of it produces heat ; pound for pound it produces more heat than any other part of the coal.

Differences in the composition of this volatile matter cause wide differences in the amount of heat that different kinds of coals will produce, assuming that each has the same amount of ash and moisture.

What Is Fixed Carbon?

Fixed carbon is simply what is left after the ash, moisture and volatile are accounted for. It is not determined by experiment, but is the difference between 100 per cent, and the sum of the percentages of the three determinations mentioned.

What Is Sulphur?

Sulphur is determined separately, and not reported in the test as a part of the 100 per cent., which is made up of the ash, moisture, volatile, and fixed carbon, because a part of it goes off as volatile matter, and a part remains in combination with other elements of the ash. A description of sulphur alone is a purely technical one. A discussion of its significance to the business man will be found on another page.

Why "B.T.U." Is the Measure of Heat Value.

The British Thermal Unit (commonly called the B.T.U.) is the measure of heat value used in this country, and represents the amoimt of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. This is not a full scientific definition of the B.T.U., but it is sufficiently accurate for the purpose of giving an idea of its value. 33479 B.T.U. is equal to one boiler horse-power. The heat value of coal is expressed as the "B.T.U. Dry," or "B.T.U. as Received." The B.T.U. Dry is the measure of the heating value of a pound of coal which has been completely dried out. The B.T.U.

as Received (sometimes called the B.T.U. Commercial)

is the measure of heat value of the coal with whatever

per cent, of moisture the particular sample is found

to contain. If either one is known, together with the

amount of moisture, the other can be calculated.

Example: — Given, B.T.U. as received 12,000, and moisture 5 per

100 — per cent, of moisture 95

What Is the Difference Between Kind and Quality of Coal?

There are certain characteristics of coal which have been fixed by Nature beyond the power of man to alter. Some of the most important factors in determining the value of coal as a power producer, however, can be and are controlled by the methods of mining and preparation of the coal for market. The coal buyer therefore should become accustomed to the consideration of these two classes of characteristics in their proper light. The amount and composition of the volatile matter cannot be changed by the methods of mining, and the amount of heat a given coal will produce is fixed, assuming it to be free from ash, moisture and sulphur. But the miner can, by his methods, very materially affect the amount of ash which a cargo of coal contains, and thereby directly reduce or increase that part of each ton which is of value. Part of the sulphur, like a part of the ash, is an inherent part of the coal substance, but in many coals it is largely in combination with iron as a part of the ash, and therefore also controlled to a considerable degree by methods of mining and preparation for market. The B.T.U. is affected in part by the character of the coal ; but it is also directly dependent upon the care in excluding as much ash as possible, for as this increases per pound, the heat producing elements decrease in proportion.

Why the "Ton" Is Not a Measure of Fuel Value.

The coal delivered to you is nothing more than "power" in packages — raw material. The ton of black material is the package in which the goods are shipped to you ; the volatile is the label which indicates the character of the goods; the ash is an indication of quality and the care in manufacture; and the number of B.T.U. gives you the quantity of power contained in the package. You, a maker of power, should be buying heat (B.T.U.) in the form most economical for you to use (indicated by the Volatile) and delivered in a package called a "ton of coal." Would you buy a box of tools without knowing how many there were in the box, or whether they were suited to your needs, or whether they had been so carefully manufactured that they would give you good service? The only excuse for buying heat units in such a way is that you can see the package, but cannot see the contents or heat units. Science has devised means of measuring the heat units, and the effectiveness with which your plant uses them in making power.

How Much Does Coal Vary in Quality?

Consider for a moment the percentage of ash as the only index of the quality of coal. Here are some facts and figures. The data contained in the tabulation below was obtained from tests of about 1,000 deliveries of No. 1 Buckwheat to coal users in New York City. The table gives the highest and lowest ash percentage found during each month. On another page these same figures will be found combined with the B.T.U., and interpreted in terms of money value.

High Per Cent.

Low Per Cent.

High Per Cent.

Low

Per Cent.

January

Februar;

March

April

May .

June

July .

August

Septemb

October

Novemb

Decemb< f ,

er

er

24.92

11.30 10.18

Average

25.68

10.81

27.18

10.68

How to Interpret This Tabulation.

This tabulation shows the great variations in quality constantly occurring. Considering the whole period, it will be seen that there is a difference of more than 27 between the highest percentage of ash and the lowest. The greatest difference within one month occurred in June, 1913, amounting to 25.53, and the smallest spread from high to low in March, 1913, when it amounted to 10.74. The average high and low percentages for each year show a difference in 1912 of 14.87, and in 1913 of 16.50. It is, of course, extremely unlikely that any one purchaser would get all the poorest deliveries, or all the best. The figures prove, however, that big variations in value are occurring every day in the quality of coal delivered.