Abercwmboi Phurnacite

Description

The Phurnacite was established in 1937/38 by Powell Duffryn Company because it had no use for 20/30,000 tons of dry seam fines. They were thinking of tapping into the Anthracite market and in conjunction with Humphreys & Glasgow engineers they had a pilot plant. The system was proved using the dry steam coals and pitches from the London and Midland Gas works as the binder, with some success. In 1939/1940 the Discoke company replaced Humphreys & Glasgow and the first battery was in production.
For a while they experiment with different coals, pitches and particle sizes until a workable blend was achieved. There was no market at the time but by the sixties they produced 17,000 tons per week.
At the end of the war the site expanded to two batteries and a third press, and by 1956 the plant doubled in size with battery 3 and four. The plant increased its batteries but also shut down some of the original ones.
The plant layout can be split
Layer blending site
Coal Handling and drying ( plants 1and 2)
Briquetting plants
Carbonising Batteries
Screening Plant
By-products of the plant.
Cooling water was provided by the large pond adjacent to the plant using one or three centrifugal pumps with a diesel pump as a standby unit.