20 The Philippine Journal of Science 1922 
leries located in New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, 
and other manufacturing centers. In 1920, 110,000,000 gallons 
of molasses were used for the production of industrial alcohol 
in the United States. 
The Philippine Islands sugar crop of 1921 totaled 552,027 
tons... The molasses weight is about 25 per cent of the weight 
of the sugar produced. This gives an annual production of 
23,000,000 gallons of molasses.2 Only 20 per cent of this was 
utilized for alcohol. Practically no alcohol was made at the 
centrals, the molasses being transported to the distilleries, mostly 
in or near Manila. Molasses is at present being run to waste 
in some sugar centrals because of a lack of market for it. Ne- 
gros Island alone produces annually 8,000,000 gallons of molasses. 
Production will undoubtedly be largely increased in the future. 
It takes from 2.5 to 3 gallons of molasses (depending chiefly 
on the percentage of sugar in the molasses and on the efficiency 
of the plant) to make 1 gallon of 190° proof (95 per cent) 
alcohol. At the latter conservative figure, the present annual 
supply of molasses in the Archipelago is a potential source of 
approximately 7,800,000 gallons of alcohol. Besides the fer- 
mentable sugar, cane molasses also contains valuable salts which 
can be utilized for fertilizer. In fact, the price of molasses is 
largely based on its fertilizing value. As far as the writer 
can ascertain, no attempt is being made in the Philippine Is- 
lands to recover the nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus com- 
pounds contained in the lees in the manufacture of alcohol from 
molasses. Theoretically, if the ash of the burned bagasse and 
the salts of the molasses are returned to the soil, the latter suffers 
no loss, as the sugar formed consists of carbon, hydrogen, and 
oxygen, which can be obtained from air and water. 
The potash and nitrogen content? is greater in Hawaiian 
molasses than in Philippine molasses, as is shown in Table 4. 
TABLE 4.—Fertilizer constituents of Philippine and Hawaiian molasses. 
Constituent. : Philippine.| Hawaiian. 
Per cent. | Per cent. 
POUR gn = swiss yasemh anh eeviginnruieneagicaplGsegegta tesla weap cack 1.39 3.99 
PHORDNOE OS ono. ono new aw envio cashes cash a Sane scae ne 0. 88 0.21 
Nitrogen. 900002023. os ee ee ee 0.21 0.64 
*Commercial ton (2,000 pounds). One metric ton equals 1.1 commercial 
tons. : 
*One United States gallon equals 3.78 liters. One gallon of molasses 
weighs 12 pounds. 
* Brill, H. C., and Thurlow, L. W., Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 12 (1917) 269. 
