MAIN INSTITUTE OF COAL IN KATOWICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000100530004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 13, 2013
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 2, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/13 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000100530004-7
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CLASSIFICATION SECRET/SECURITY INFGR.MAIID
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Kr INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT Main Institute of Coal in Katowice
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
THIS D D CUMEHT CONTAINS INFO AMAT IOM AFFECTING THE T IOM AL SF
THE U M I TED S T A T E S , B I T H I N T H E M E A N I N G O F T I T L E I TIOMSE 193
05D 794r O F H CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TNA NSM I SSI DM Y
TIOH O ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY UNAUTHORIZED PERROMIS
PROHIBITED BY LAY. THE REPRODUCTION CF THIS FORM IS PROHI SITED.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
to The Main Institute of Coal (':Ilowny Instytut udeglowy) was organized
in 191.5 by Prof (fnu) Chorazy0 This organization was controlled
by the Ministry of Mining (Ninisterstwo Gornietwa) and supplied
information to the coal mines and coal-using plants belonging
to the Ministry of Mining and the Ministry of Chemical Industry
(Ministerstwo Przemuslu Cremicznel7o) Until 1949 the Institute
occupied buildings in vVelnowiec /5016N-1901E and Biskupice
5lo8Nm2257EE, but after that time all Institute divisions were
moved to a new building in Yatowice 5016N-1901.E7, (a larger
town near vuelnowiec) with the exception of one division which
remained in Biskupicea
2. The Main Institute of Coal had four divisions:
(a) Petrography and Geology of Coal Division (Saklad Petro-
graf ii i Geologii 6vegla)
(b) Mechanization of Mines Division (Zaklad Mechanizacji
Gornictwa)
(c) Mechanical Utilization of Coal Division (Saklad
Mechanicznej Przerobki ,vegla); director; Dr Tadeusz
Laskowski
(d) Chemical Utilization of Coal Division (Zaklad Chemicznj
Przerobki Avegla); director: ?rcf Dr ~>lazej Roga
CLASSIFICATION
1"77 e N X AFC. DISTRIBUTION
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SECRET /SECURITY INT=ATION I
DATE DISTR. J. 52
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NO, OF PAGES 3
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
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SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION 50X1
-.The Institute was very much interested in the purification of coal,
lad three of its members;` Dr Laskowski, Director of the Mechanical
Utilization of Coal Division, Dr (fnu) Sorel and Eng (fnu) Mielecki,
were engaged in coal purification research
50X1 Because Poland had enough coal and it was compara-
50X1 Lively cheap, the Polish Government would have preferred to use
coal rather than graphite or tar coke in the production of coal
anodes (used in electrical furnaces producing aluminum steel and
carbide). But coal used in this manner must have less than six per
cent organic ash content, thus the great interest of the Polish
Government in producing a coal purified to this degree. Coal with
less than six per cent ash content can also be used most efficiently
in the production of silicon carbide and in the carbonization of a
gas flame.
At the Institute, research in coal purification centered around two
methods; the Electrostatic Method (research uncompleted as of November
.1951) and the Wet Method. In the Electrostatic Method, which had been
under study at the Institute since 1950, coal containing a small
amount of organic ash was ground and then separated according to the
size of the particles. The desired size for experimentation was a
piece.three tenths to one mm in diameter. These pieces were then
processed by the following set of apparatus: a container for coal
pieces, a glass tube of about two meters in length, a small fan and
an electrostatic chamber. The coal particles were first conveyed in
the glass tube by means of an air current, and by friction with the
glass were electrified. The amount of electrical charge each
particle gave off depended on its chemical composition; the more
unalloyed the coal, ie,.the smaller its mineral salt content, the
stronger was its capacity for being electrified. The.' electrified
coal particles then dropped from the glass tube into a chamber with
an electrostatic field of about 50 thousand volts (The coal particles,
were. automatically sorted in this chamber according to their degree
of electrification ). Thus, several fractions of coal resulted which
differed from each other in their grade of purity. Although this
method had undergone research at the Institute since 1950, the
results were upsatisfactory as of November 1951. In September 1951
the first report of this research work was published in the "Reports
of the Coal Industry Institute" ("Prece Gtoewuego Instytutu Weglowegs").
It gave the test results of the electrostatic characteristics of the
different components of coal under experiment, and stressed the low
cost, no-drying advantages of the. proposed method.
The Wet Method, the second method of purifying coal, was quite
simple. A variety of coal with a low organic ash-content was reduced
to small pieces of three to 10 mm in diameter. These pieces were
then washedwith distilled water and brought to a vibrating table,
which separated coal pieces of less than six per cent ash from the
others.
Prof Blazey Roga, Director of the Chemical Utilization of Coal
Department, and Dr (fun) Jurkiewiez, working independently,
developed two new systems for the classification of coal; Prof Raga
on the basis of physical and chemical properties of coal, and
Dr Jurkiewiez by using equations and chemical analysis. Prof Roga
was also interested in research on the structure of coal and coke
and conducted numerous experiments on this subject.
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
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SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
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8.
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The same Dr durkiewicz mentioned above designed,, with Engr Henryk
Zielenski, a production method for the sulphonation of coal. Both
men bean the Production sate unknown of ion exchangers in Poland,
and in November 1951 a large plant for this purpose was
being plann . Dr durkiewiez was also chiefly responsible for the
erection of ion exchangers in Argentina and Sweden (both locations
unknown). These two factories were using his patent for ion
exchangers as of November 1951.
Another member of the Institute engaged in noteworthy research was
Dr (fnu) Nadzeakiewicz, who was concerned with problems in coking
coal. Through his experiments he succeeded in increasing the benzene
and toluene output in coke factories, which aroused considerable
interest in the Ministry of National Defense (Ministerstwo Obrony
Narodowej), since toluene is a raw material used in the production
o? TNT.
Near the Institute's division in Biskupice, a new battery for swelling
ovens was built in December 1950 by the Lurgi Co of Frankfurt/Main
Germany. This battery, however, was used only for research.
SECRET /SECURITY INFORMATION
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/13 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000100530004-7