SWEET RUNNING

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6811, 15 January 1929, Page 4

SWEET RUNNING

SUGAR AS MOTOR FUEL. Latest recipe for the production of power alcohol is a few tons of vegetable waste and a flock of bacteria. Though this sounds an unlikely method of obtaining fuel for a motor, Dr. A. C. Thaysen told a meeting of the British Association at Glasgow that he has done so. The method is to set the fight kind of bacteria to work to convert pentoses. Pentoses arc sugars which occur in plants, including many vegetable waste products. They are sweet, but unsuitable for human consumption, and cannot be fermented by ordinary yeast. Using waste products, Dr. Thaysen and his collaborators have collected yields of power alcohol equal to those obtainable from potatoes, which are extensively used, in some countries, to manufacture alcohol. He stated that 20 gallons of power alcohol would be a fair average yield from one ton of waste material. The fact that it is difficult to ensure the necessary smooth progress of conversion will prevent motorists from importing bacteria and setting them to work on cauliflower leaves and potato peelings. British authorities believe that the discovery is very important.