Origins of The Plant

The coal produced by Bedwas Colliery was, especially in the early days of the colliery, too small to sell easily on the open market. During the pre-nationalisation days of the 1920's the colliery was in the private ownership of Bedwas Navigation Colliery Co. (1921) Limited, the major shareholder of which was Sir Samuel Instone. He and the board decided that an additional market for Bedwas coal could be created by the construction of a coal by-products plant to supply coke to the expanding steel industry. A joint venture was therefore established with other investors as a separate company - British Benzol and Coal Distillation Limited. The new plant opened in 1929 next to Bedwas colliery with 35 coke ovens. Apart from producing coke, the plant supplied Newport with nearly all its total need for gas - 7 million cubic feet per week. Gas mains linked the Plant to Newport and the Trethomas-Ness Tar Plant in Caerphilly. Although a marginal business in terms of profitability, the plant survived the Nationalisation of the coal industry and after World War II was twice expanded to a total of 53 ovens in 1971. The Plant could not survive the massive decline of heavy industry in the 1980's, nor the closure of Bedwas Colliery and closed after a little over 55 years of production. The Plant did not maintain a low profile. During its existence, the tall brick chimney and the huge clouds of steam generated every 30 minutes dominated the Bedwas and Trethomas district. A narrow-bore steel stack (or bleeder) over 100 feet high burned 15 to 20 feet in length, turned night into day.

The day the Plant was commisioned did not pass without incident. During the evening celebrations, a huge explosion shook Trethomas, creating a mini-earthquake. The next day a crater could be seen where the gasometer at the new plant had previously stood. Pieces of metal were spread to a distance of 300yards across the mountainside.

In the mid 1930's the families of Mr. J Laurence, Sergeant Edwards and and Mr. Dan Evans all of Tyn-y-Wern Terrace, Trethomas received a night-time surprise when the buckets from the aerial ropeway system feeding the Plant (the inclined gantry on the photos) broke free and crashed into their houses, causing serious damage.

Some figures

The Plant cost less than £300,000 to build in 1929 and achieved it's record annual profit of just over this sum in 1977. The record output for coke was 214,000 tons in 1937.

Coal to Bedwas

To overcome its high ash content, the Plant actually imported coal from Risca and Windsor Collieries to blend with the Bedwas supplies.

How is coke made ?

References to photos are those on the next page

Each oven would be charged with about 200 tons of coal from the car running along the top of the ovens ( photo bottom row far left ). The coal was then heated or carbonised . By-products are drawn off for treatment in the by-products plant where tar, ammonia and benzol are extracted. Part of the gas produced heats the ovens and the rest went to Newport Corporation and later the Wales Gas Board.

Back to the ovens, the pusher ( third photo from left top row ) discharges the red-hot coke into a car which is then drawn under the arch into the quenching tower ( second from left bottom row ) when around 30 tons of water are quickly sprayed over the coke, giving rise to huge billows of steam. The coke is then screened into sizes before loading into wagons and lorries for use in steelmaking.

Coal By-products

OK, so what can you get from distilling (heating coal in an oven from which oxygen has been removed) a ton of coal ?

When distilled, coal by-products driven off from the remaining coke divide into two:

(a) ammoniacal liquor, and;

(b)tar.

which became benzol, taluol, naptha, phenol, anthracene and ammonium sulphur.

From these one obtains from one ton of coal, and about 15 gallons of fuel oil, 2 and a half gallons of petrol, and 3,000cubic feet of gas at 1,000 btu. Alternatively, the by-products can produce:

Disinfectants, Explosives, Creosote, Fertilizer, Solvent cleaners, Saccharin, Indigo dyes and Disinfectant.