ALCOHOL FROM CORN-COBS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 881, 24 January 1907, Page 21

ALCOHOL FROM CORN-COBS.

Tests which have been made for the last ;wo months in the experiment station of the State Agricultural College here have proven that denatured alcohol, for use as fue 1 , light and motive power, at a price that will be considerably lower than that of gasolene, can be made from green corncobs, says an American exchange. Green corncobs to a great quantity are thrown away by canneries all over the United States. These were not only waste product, but caused an expense, as they soon soured and became so offensive that it was necessary to haul them away. The tests carried on here show that there are eleven ga'lons of alcohol in each ton of green corncobs. The process of

distillation is simple. A conveyer carries the cobs to a grinding machine, where they are reduced to a pulp. This,pulp is mixed with water and then brought to a boil. After being boiled a short time the yeast is put into the pulp and the whole mass is allowed to ferment. After that the usual process of distillation is fol owed. The cost of manufacture is shown to be about three cents a gallon. Adding the cost of dena.urization and a liberal profit for distiller and retailer, the product can be sold for at least as low as twenty cents a gallon. As an article of motive power alcohol would compete with gasolene. It has been hitherto established that a gallon of alcohol will produce at least ten per cent more power than a gallon of gasolene. Therefore, with alcohol at twenty cents and gasolene at twentytwo, it 's manifest that alcohol wou’d be easily the cheaper. In Germany a lamp is now made for burning a'cohol with a Welsbach burner, which produces a very strong, steady, and high grade I’ght. Experiments testing this lamp with the most approved pattern kerosene lamps with round wicks and an equal candle power disclosed that a ga lon of a’cohol would keep the alcohol lamp burning tw : ce as long as kerosene. Therefore, with kerosene at as low a price as fifteen cents, it would be fifty per cent, more expensive for lighting purposes than alcohol made from corncobs. It has already been estimated that at twenty-five, and even thirty, cents, a gallon alcohol would compete with kerosene. Comparison with resu’ts in foreign countries show that nowhere has alcohol been produced at as low a pr ce as this. In France the price has ranged from 30 to 50 cents., in Italy 32 to 58 cents., in Germany 27 to 29 cents. Exp'anation of these higher prices is found ; n the fact that in Germany potatoes are used principally, in France beets, in Italy gra’ns, and in Cuba molasses is far the cheapest And yet the Cubans, with the molasses right on their plantations. have not been able to bring the sel’ing pr’ce be'ow 29 cents. Tn Germany, which has, perhaps, developed the denatured alcohol industry to the greatest extent, potatoes costing an average of 27 cents, per bushel are used for manufacture. In the United

States the average cost of potatoes has been 45 cents. So, if potatoes were to be used, it is manifest the cost of alcohol would be brought up to double that in Germany, or more than 50 cents. It requires but 1.26 bushels of potatoes to produce a gallon of alcohol, as compared with a'most 200 pounds of green corncobs. But the important fact is that corncobs will cos: practically nothing, and potatoes to 50 cents.