There is a huge difference between planning and actual operation in many things in the world, especially when the planner and the operator are not the same person. This tendency is even more obvious.
According to the engineer who led the way for Lawrence, there was a lot of chaos in the entire area from the time the mine opened.
For example, the first batch of steam-powered machinery was delivered last year, but the problem is that the machines that were transported from a local mine did not have any targeted cold-proof design at all.
As a result, a series of problems such as burst water pipes, insufficient heating of the boiler, and even cracks in the steel appeared shortly after the start-up. In the end, they had to bother them to pull the broken machines back.
After all, the entire Briton has no experience in mining in such alpine areas. Although many colonies in this country also have coal mines, those coal mines are mostly in tropical or temperate zones, so they naturally lack experience and equipment in this area.
However, due to profit reasons, it was impossible for the British shareholders to purchase equipment from the Rurik Kingdom, which was good at constructing various projects in alpine zones. As a result, the situation naturally became what it is now.
"What are those things?" Just when everyone was complaining about the idle guys sitting in Britton's luxurious office, Lawrence discovered something very interesting.
In the direction of Lawrence's finger, some people were dumping piles of black stuff into a large pit in one carriage after another, which looked like discarding garbage.
"Those should be the crushed coal that appears during coal mining." The engineer took a look and said.
"Our coal mine mainly uses blasting and manual mining. In this way, when a large amount of coal is produced, a large amount of powdered coal will also be produced. However, because pulverized coal cannot be sold at a high price, it is also dangerous-"
In the Federation or the Old World, because the distance between the production and consumption areas of coal mines is very close, these powdery coals will also be used.
For example, the raw materials used to produce gas in gas plants are often cheap powdered coal, and the steam engines of some small factories also use fuels that are not so easy to use but are cheap enough.
But on this desolate island, the above two methods of using powdered coal are meaningless. Because there are too few people, there is no gas generating station on this island that is only found in modern cities.
For the same reason, the demand for thermal coal in this region is almost zero, and there is simply no way to consume so much powdered coal.
As for transporting these things out, it is not a good idea. The transportation volume of the Northern Route itself is limited, so for this route, transporting good anthracite is already the lower limit of profit.
For those cargo ships, they will try their best to transport more valuable cargo in the transportation tonnage, rather than the pulverized coal that is at best used as a supplement in the mainland.
"What's worse is that once these powdery coals accumulate in large quantities, they will burn themselves. So we often screen out the powdery coals and small coal blocks that cannot be sold at a high price at the coal mine, and then put them away
Throw them all over here."
The engineer discovered that Lawrence was curious about these things and took him to the big pit over there. At the same time, he introduced, "Some locals will take advantage of the snow on one side to drag some sleds back and burn them themselves.
Other than that, these things are just thrown here."
"To be honest, these things are some fuel after all. It would be a waste to just throw them away in this cold place." Looking at the three or four people below who were loading bulk coal into the sled partition with shovels, Lawrence sighed in a low voice.
Because there are only very few coal mines on New Saul Island, most of the fuel on the island now needs to be imported, so when you see this kind of waste of fuel, you will naturally feel pity in your heart.
"It's a bit wasteful, but there are no alternatives." The coal mine engineer also said helplessly.
"In fact, the demand for these fuels in this region is not large because of the relatively low temperature, but it is not very small either. But the problem is that it is not easy to transport these bulk coals. If the freight is added, it will be difficult for locals to accept it.
.”
"I read the report before, and it seemed that you had done something in this area to reduce the waste of raw materials." Viscount Surrey looked at the engineer and said.
"The report says that you seem to have made some breakthroughs in this area——"
"We can now make this thing into an artificial coal." The engineer nodded and said, and then led them to a building not far from the mine with gray smoke coming out of the chimney.
In a two-story building.
"This is our collective kitchen. It is obviously neither appropriate nor suitable for workers to cook their own meals and ensure food safety."
The engineer pointed to the boiler furnace that was burning inside and said, "The new products we have developed before have been put here as fuel for these boilers."
"Isn't the coal being burned in your furnace? Apart from the fact that the volume of coal is more uniform than ordinary coal, I can't see any difference from the past." After taking a look through the furnace door that was opened for loading, the Viscount of Surrey looked a little confused.
asked in confusion.
Because in his eyes, those furnaces were all filled with walnut-sized lumps that turned into reddish-red lumps due to burning. They looked no different from the raw coal that was burned directly in the past.
"No, my Lord Viscount, these things are not crushed raw coal." The engineer shook his head and said.
Then he took out a piece of fuel from the pile of fuel next to him and walked out of the room, and then used the sunlight to show Lawrence and the others what this new type of fuel he said was.
"This is indeed not raw coal." Using the sunlight outside, they discovered that the walnut-sized piece of fuel in the engineer's hand was actually a spherical shape that was obviously not naturally formed.
After careful observation, they found that the black sphere had a shiny black appearance, but its surface was not very smooth.
After holding it in his hand and weighing it, Lawrence realized that the density of this thing was lower than that of a coal mine, so it should not have been carved from raw coal into what it is now.
"This is a coal mine we made artificially using pulverized coal." After Lawrence and the others experienced these briquettes up close, the engineer said quite proudly.
"This kind of artificial coal can be formed by sticking some pulverized coal and cinders together with soil and drying them. Although it is not qualified to be used as thermal coal, it can still be used as daily fuel."
"But I think this thing will have a rather unpleasant smell after it is burned." Looking at these briquettes, Lawrence immediately searched for something related to this thing from his memory, and then asked.
"And if I guess correctly, your boiler may need to be shut down and cleaned in a day or two."
"Have you ever used this kind of thing?" The engineer asked, his eyes widening immediately after hearing what Lawrence said.
"Why do you ask that?" Lawrence asked, looking at the engineer.
"Because the two places you just mentioned are the biggest flaws of the current artificial coal." The engineer said, holding up the briquettes in his hand.
"On the one hand, the smell of this thing will contaminate everything heated by it. For example, if you eat carefully in the current meals and soups, you can taste a rather bad smell of coal."
"On the other hand, this kind of artificial coal mine will produce a lot of ash after burning, instead of mostly large pieces of residue like after the raw coal is burned."
"In this way, not only will all kinds of broken coal particles fly everywhere, making everything dirty, but it will also easily form a thick layer of carbon ash in the boiler. Therefore, it is necessary to use it every few days.