Post by rob52 on Jul 16, 2016 5:24:03 GMT -5
Further on the NCB R&D Capability
A bit of History on:
Coal Research Establishment (CRE) of the National Coal Board - Stoke Orchard
Listed as updated 14th August 2015
“The scientists and engineers who worked at CRE have left a legacy of well researched information that may find application in the future; if not directly to coal, it may have a relevance to other technologies yet to emerge.”….”the information from CRE, and also from BCURA, Grimethorpe and Point of Ayr, has been preserved and is stored in the library of North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME).”
"One small contingent of ex-CRE employees continued to work from the Stoke Orchard site until the end of May 2015…finally turned out the lights and locked the doors of the main office building at CRE on Friday 29th May 2015…."
"Stoke Orchard was formerly home to the Coal Research Establishment (CRE) of the National Coal Board, which moved onto the site of a Ministry for Aircraft Production shadow factory run by the Gloster Aircraft Company adjacent to RAF Stoke Orchard."
"The CRE site has now been demolished, the site cleared and it is now being developed by Bloor Homes for ~120 houses, a village hall, a Village Shop and other amenities. This development will effectively double the size of the village."
No Free Aerial Photo from:
Nat Archives
Some had a look around:
before demolition
&
before demolition 2
...has aerial photo of site that aligns with elgooG maps photo
elgooG maps
Stoke Rd (Buildings marked as Height Safety opposite Stoke Orchard Garage
Property Map
Parish Plan Pg28 Onwards
Which details:
"The establishment was set up in 1950 by British Coal's director of research Jacob Bronowski to investigate alternative technologies to improve the value of the energy produced from burning coal along with completely new methods of using the coal won from the countries coalfields.
One of the CRE's most notable breakthroughs was a coal Liquefaction process which produced a synthetic oil which could be used to power motor engines. During the 1970's the CRE was home to a Ford Torino fitted with a experimental engine capable of using this oil as a demonstration vehicle. However despite rising oil prices's during the 1970's. Coal liquefaction was expensive process which proved to be uneconomic, it never progressed beyond the research stage and no trace of the mythical coal powered car could be found during the visit. The coal liquefaction facilities are still present at the CRE today, perhaps to the very end of its research days the scientists at the CRE hoped their liquefaction process may become an economic prospect as oil reserves ran low. In fact today a number of international research organisations are pursuing new research projects into Coal Liquefaction.
One of the process required to convert solid coal into a liquid fuel is conversion into a gas through a chemical process called gasification. Once the coal has been converted into a gaseous state it can be further processed into liquids but the gas itself can also have its own uses. burning this gas can be more efficient than burning the solid coal releasing more of the energy contained within the coal, Gasified coal is commonly used in power generation. The CRE was a pioneer in coal gasification initial studies were successfully concluded in the 1950's using coal seams at Newman Spinney, but the the project was abandoned by the NCB for economic reasons. Improved gas control systems and processes developed for the North sea oil and gas fields lead to a further round of research which proved the thin deep coal seams found in Britain could be economically exploited for coal gasification. Gasified coal is also the key to clean coal technologies where the carbon emissions generated as coal burns could be neutralised or trapped. One of the CRE's major projects in its later years was the pursuit of clean coal which would trap the carbon in a usable form that could be exploited in other chemical processes ore as a fuel itself.
When the government decided to privatise the coal producing divisions of British Coal in 1994 the CRE was left in a difficult position the newly privatised and in many cases cashed strapped operators, were unable to fund the CRE's research work and the government was unwilling to spend public money on supporting the coal industry so less than a year later the research operations at Stoke Orchard ceased."
Rob
A bit of History on:
Coal Research Establishment (CRE) of the National Coal Board - Stoke Orchard
Listed as updated 14th August 2015
“The scientists and engineers who worked at CRE have left a legacy of well researched information that may find application in the future; if not directly to coal, it may have a relevance to other technologies yet to emerge.”….”the information from CRE, and also from BCURA, Grimethorpe and Point of Ayr, has been preserved and is stored in the library of North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME).”
"One small contingent of ex-CRE employees continued to work from the Stoke Orchard site until the end of May 2015…finally turned out the lights and locked the doors of the main office building at CRE on Friday 29th May 2015…."
"Stoke Orchard was formerly home to the Coal Research Establishment (CRE) of the National Coal Board, which moved onto the site of a Ministry for Aircraft Production shadow factory run by the Gloster Aircraft Company adjacent to RAF Stoke Orchard."
"The CRE site has now been demolished, the site cleared and it is now being developed by Bloor Homes for ~120 houses, a village hall, a Village Shop and other amenities. This development will effectively double the size of the village."
No Free Aerial Photo from:
Nat Archives
Some had a look around:
before demolition
&
before demolition 2
...has aerial photo of site that aligns with elgooG maps photo
elgooG maps
Stoke Rd (Buildings marked as Height Safety opposite Stoke Orchard Garage
Property Map
Parish Plan Pg28 Onwards
Which details:
"The establishment was set up in 1950 by British Coal's director of research Jacob Bronowski to investigate alternative technologies to improve the value of the energy produced from burning coal along with completely new methods of using the coal won from the countries coalfields.
One of the CRE's most notable breakthroughs was a coal Liquefaction process which produced a synthetic oil which could be used to power motor engines. During the 1970's the CRE was home to a Ford Torino fitted with a experimental engine capable of using this oil as a demonstration vehicle. However despite rising oil prices's during the 1970's. Coal liquefaction was expensive process which proved to be uneconomic, it never progressed beyond the research stage and no trace of the mythical coal powered car could be found during the visit. The coal liquefaction facilities are still present at the CRE today, perhaps to the very end of its research days the scientists at the CRE hoped their liquefaction process may become an economic prospect as oil reserves ran low. In fact today a number of international research organisations are pursuing new research projects into Coal Liquefaction.
One of the process required to convert solid coal into a liquid fuel is conversion into a gas through a chemical process called gasification. Once the coal has been converted into a gaseous state it can be further processed into liquids but the gas itself can also have its own uses. burning this gas can be more efficient than burning the solid coal releasing more of the energy contained within the coal, Gasified coal is commonly used in power generation. The CRE was a pioneer in coal gasification initial studies were successfully concluded in the 1950's using coal seams at Newman Spinney, but the the project was abandoned by the NCB for economic reasons. Improved gas control systems and processes developed for the North sea oil and gas fields lead to a further round of research which proved the thin deep coal seams found in Britain could be economically exploited for coal gasification. Gasified coal is also the key to clean coal technologies where the carbon emissions generated as coal burns could be neutralised or trapped. One of the CRE's major projects in its later years was the pursuit of clean coal which would trap the carbon in a usable form that could be exploited in other chemical processes ore as a fuel itself.
When the government decided to privatise the coal producing divisions of British Coal in 1994 the CRE was left in a difficult position the newly privatised and in many cases cashed strapped operators, were unable to fund the CRE's research work and the government was unwilling to spend public money on supporting the coal industry so less than a year later the research operations at Stoke Orchard ceased."
Rob