Percentages of Ash and Phosphorus in Wood and Charcoal. [Volume: 8, Issue: 2, 1888, pp. 81-97]

No. 2.]

CHARCOAL IRON WORKERS.

81

Percentages of Ash and Phosphorus in Wood and
Charcoal.*
BY RICHARD AKERMAN AND C. G. SARNSTORM.
As the superiority of Swedish irons depend largely on the small
amount of phosphorus they contain, and as the demands for pure
raw material is constantly on the increase, it has become a source
of alarm to find that pig-iron made out of very pure ore often contains a few hundredths of a per cent more of phosphorus thalr the
composition of the burden would warrant, and, therefore, this excess of phosphorus necessarily comes from the charcoal used in
the blast furnaces. A series of investigations into this matter have
been lately instituted by the directors of the "Jernkontorets," and
it is the object of this article to show the results of these investigations.
THE METHOD OF CHARRING HAS EVIDENTLY NO INFLUENCE
ON THE AMOUNT OF PHOSPHORUS IN CHARCOAL.
On the supposition that by forest charring in meilers the phosphorus in the wood might possibly be reduced, and go off either
as phosphorus or phosphoric hydrogen, a dry distillation of wood
was made in a porcelain retort, the distillates being collected and
completely oxidized in a beaker by means of a boiling mixture
of nitric acid (1.40 specific gravity) and hydrochloric acid (1.19
specific gravity). As scarcely a trace of phosphoric acid could be
detected in the distillates, it is safe to assume that the method of
charring on a small as well as on a large scale does not influence.the phosphorus in the ash.
METHOD OF CHARRING AND INCINERATING TO ASH, AND
CALCULATION OF THE AMOUNT OF ASH.
After several preliminary experiments to find the easiest way
of charring and incinerating without the risk of losing asi, trying
among other things several inclined tubes of different materials,
we concluded to use plate iron dishes 205 m. m. (8.1 inches) in
diameter, with lids of the same shape, having a diameter of 280
*The paper has been reprinted as a monograph of forty-six pages, entitled:
"Om Askhalter och Fosforprocenter i Tra Samt Deraf Beredda Koi."
[Translated from the Jern-Kontorets Annaler, 1888, for the JOURNAL OF
THE UNITED STATES ASSOCIATION OF CHARCOAL IRON WORKEES, by Joe.
Westesson, Philadelphia.

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