ALCOHOL FROM POTATOES IN GERMANY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 62

ALCOHOL FROM POTATOES IN GERMANY

The English Board of Agriculture has jreceived through the Foreign Office the following particulars, prepared by Dr Rose, H.M. Consul at Stuttgart, concerning the manufacture of alcohol from potatoes : Alcohol from potatoes was manufactured in Germany during the eighteenth century, but it was only during the nineteenth century that the industry attained any importance for agriculture. Its progress had been latterly most rapid, and it was greatly accelerated by the intensive cultivation of potatoes, which has been brought; about by the spread of scientific agricultural instruction. The foundations of this agricultural instruction were laid by Liebig. In his "Chemical Letters,” issued in 1859, he showed that soils are comparatively poor in salts of potassium and how much is taken from them by cultivation. For example, a crop of one acre of potatoes takes 90lb of potassium salts from the »oil. He showed, further, bow insufficient the manures then used (wood-ash, beat, and wool ref use) were to replace this loss, and advocated the application of mineral manures. The result of his investigations was the commencement of the working of the Stassfurt and Anhalt salt strata.

The following figures show the increase in tire productivity of the soil of the German Empire as regards potatoes: The average yield was. in 1879-88, 32.8 cwt per acre; in 1888-96, 36.2 cwt; and in 1899, 49.8 cwt. The average production of the five years (1839-1903) from about eight million acres was 40,202,000 tons. During the- eighteenth century alcohol was .principally derived from grain, and the centres of its preparation were fairly evenly distributed throughout Germany. During the nineteenth .century it was almost exclusively prepared from potatoes, and the production was confined to the eastern district. Tho West of Germany buys potatoes for food, both of man and beast; the East of Germany, less thickly populated, produces a surplus, and sells part of this to the West, the principal amount of the surplus being, however, converted into alcohol, although it is also used for making starch. In some districts 50 per cent, of the potato harvest is devoted, to the preparation of alcohol. speak ng, about 4 per cent, of the total cultivated area of the Empire is under' potatoes. The amount grown on the different holdings and the distribution of these holdings vary, of course, greatly. The proportions range from 0.5 per cent, to 85 per cent., and about threefourths of tlie whole German production of alcohol is produced in the country east of tho Elbe.

In 1"51 1.32.000 tons of potatoes and 6,400,000 bushels of grain wore converted into alcohol, yielding about 20,-100,000 gallons of alcohol. These figures remained stat.unary until about 1855. By ISBS the production had risen to about 88,000,090 gallons, of which about a quarter was exported. This is the period when Liebig's discoveries were disseminated. This amount fell to 60,51)0,009 in 1889, owing to foreign competition, the loss of

several foreign markets, and internal taxation. The last difficulty was overcome by new fiscal regulations, placing heavy duties on alcohol for consumption and reducing the duties on alcohol for technical purposes. The consumption of alcohol for technical purposes consequently rose from almost nothing in 1860 to nearly 22,000,000 gallons in 1898. The total production of alcohol in 1898 was 72,600,000 gallons. The manufacture of alcohol from potatoes is mainly an agricultural industry, that is to say, the greater part of the spirit is made in distilleries situated on the farms. There are only a few industrial distilleries situated in towns.

Of the total amount produced in 1898 49,720,000 gallons were oonsumed in Germany (about 9.2 gallons per head of population), 19,800,000 gallons were used for industrial purposes, and only 896,000 gallons were exported. The total amount was derived principally from 2,260,00 tons of potatoes, which yielded about 57,200,000 gallons.

The arrangement of the distilleries, whether for potatoes or grain, consists in almost all cases of a conical steamer. In this the raw material is submitted to the action of compressed steam in order to convert the starchy meal into a pulp. It is then treated in the first mash-tun, which must be well cooled and provided with an effective stirring apparatus. Here malt is added and sugar is formed. The acid process is not much used in Germany, as it renders the residue worthless as food for cattle. “LangmaLz” (long or short malt), mostly prepared from barley, is generally used. The next step is fermentation in large vats containing 440 to 1100 gallons. Pure culture yeast Is generally used for fermentation. The alpohol formed by fermentation is obtained from the mash by distilling. This distilling process in Germany is generally a continuous one with the aidi of a "column apparatus”; the old stills are almost completely abandoned. The raw spirit thus obtained is rectified in special refineries. By the use of life’s apparatus a good spirit can be obtained directly from the mash.

The residue from the whole is much used as a food for cattle ? anh. is, perhaps, as valuable as the spirit itself. Alcohol is beginning to be used in Germany for motor purposes, and small motors up to 25-h.p. are already at work. It is, of course, difficult to say to what exact extent they have already been adopted, as this would require careful and numerous inquiries in many directions. There is no doubt that the French are ahead of the Germans with regard to the application of alcohol to motive purposes. A large exbibiton was held at the beginning of the year at Pans, where many machines for driving with alcohol were shown by different firms.— ‘'Journal of the Board of Agriculture.”