Vol. IX. No. 223. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XKW.- 



355 



SUGAR INDUSTRY, 



EXPERIMENT.S IN DRYING MEGASS. 



The Modern .Suffiif I'/itiiter, for August 27, 1910, states 

 that Trofessor E. W. Kerr, of the Engineering Department of 

 the Louisiana State University, who has made an exhaustive 

 study of the burning of megass in sugar factories in Louisi- 

 ana and Cuba, intends to etfact an extension of his research 

 work in connexion with this subject. This extension is in 

 the direction of the conduct of experiments in drying megass, 

 for the purpose of determining if this adds to its fuel efficien- 

 cy. Another olyeit of the work is to find a means of dis- 

 pensing with the oil fuel that is used in conjunction with 

 megass, for burning, in many sugar factories in the United 

 States. 



In the experiments, the plan will be to make use of the 

 waste heat that passes up tlie chimney with the furnace gases, 

 for the purpose of drying the megass. The publiiation to 

 which reference has just been made stales that the drier will 

 consist of a metal chamber, 1!) or 20 feet in height and 5 

 feet square. This will be provideil with a hopper, through 

 which the megass will pa.ss in a continuous stream into the 

 drier. As it enters the chamber, the megass will fall on tilt- 

 in" .shelves, some of which will have a shaker motion impart- 

 ed to them. The shelves will be at suitable distances, and 

 the hot air will pass over them, and through perforations in 

 them, thus drying the megass. After this has fallen through 

 the chamlier Irom shelf to shelf, it will pass through a hopjior 

 at the bottom and be carried to the furnaces in the ordinary 



way. 



The method of introducing the heat into the drier will 

 be to drive the waste gases from the furnaces into it by means 

 of an exhaust fan. The gases will be taken up as they pass 

 from the furnaces into the chimney. 



It is stated, finally, in the article that Professor Keir 

 expects that at least 2.5 per cent, of the moisture contained in 

 the megass, as it leaves the mill, will be removed by the dry- 

 ing process. The opinion is given that, if this percentage of 

 drying is ol>taiiied, the process will be found highly economi- 

 cal for every sugar factory in Louisiana. It. should be 

 especially adapted to conditions of sugar manufacture of the 

 kind which obtains in that State, where the mill feeds are 

 hioh, and a large proportion of water is u.sed in maceration. 



THE ANALYSIS OF MEGASS. 



The following interesting conclusions in regard to 

 the analysis of bagasse (or megass) have been reached 

 aftei' work at thr Experiment Station of the Hawaiian 

 Sugar I'lanters" A.ssociation, which is described in 

 Bulletin No. 32 of that station, entitled Bagasse 

 Avalj/fsls — Determination of l^iugar and Moisture. 



It may be added that in the bulletin, a new 

 method, by which a larger polarisco))e reading is 

 nbtain<'il, is describi'd, thus giving a means of i-educing 

 tlie errors from this source. .\Iethi'ds, based on the 



results of the investigation, .ire also suggested forsanipl- 

 iiig and f'r i.ho iletirmination of sugar and moisture 

 in megHs-: — 



1. The careful sampling is of more importance than any 

 other part of the jirocess f>f the analysis of bag.asse. 



2. No entirely .sati^factoiy method of preserving: baf.:isse 

 has been found; it had iherctoie best be analyzed .-non alter 

 it has been collected. 



."1 The baga.sse .sample loses coiibideraMe moisture 

 during the chopping, which should be taken account of in 

 weighing .samples for analysis. 



4. In determining the polarization of bagasse by 

 digestion in water, the digestion should be continued for an 

 hour to insure a homogeneous diffusion of the ^solution 

 through the bagasse. 



•"). \o other dextro-rotatory substance than sugar is 

 extracted or produced from bagasse from Hawaiian cane by 

 boiling with water. 



6. Bagasse cannot be sampled or analyzed accurately 

 unless finely divided. 



7. Two cubic centimetres of a 5-per cent, solution of 

 sodium carbonate to -"lO grams of bagasse was foun<ltobe the 

 most convenient reagent to use in the water for digestion. 



8. In digesting bagas.se in water the solution should be 

 mixed occassionaily to insure a homogeneous ditfiusion. 



9. Xo water should be added to the solution after 

 digestion. 



10. The same results are obtained by water digestion 

 for one hour, and by extraction with alcohol or water for one 

 and a half to two hours. 



11. Bagasse samples dry very much more quickly when 

 spread out in a thin layer than in thick mas.ses. A 3-inch 

 layer of bagasse cannot be depended upon to have lost all its 

 moisture in seven hours at lOO'-lO-j'C. 



12. Bagasse can be dried .safely at 125°C. in three hours. 



13. Some samples of bagasse do not lo.se all their 

 moisture, when dried in a vacuum at 100°C., in le.ss than 

 three hours. 



An Enemy of 'Millions'. — Some time ago, several 

 ,s[iecimens of an in.sect predaccous on millions were forwarded 

 to the Head Office by Mr. G. F. Branch, Agricultura' 

 Instructor, Grenada, who explained that he had oliserved 

 these insects attacking the fish, and eating them. 



In the absence of Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc, the Entom- 

 ologist to the Department, the insects were sent to the 

 Rev. N. B. Watson, Vicar of St. Martin's, Barbados, with 

 a request that he would report anything of interest that he 

 knew concerning them. Mr. Watson has kindly examined 

 the specimens, and states that they are the larvae of 

 a beetle belonging to the family Hydrophilidae, the larval 

 stage of which is active, predaceous and carnivorous, preying 

 on all kinds of small acpatic animals, including young 

 millions. It is suggested by Mr. Watson that this is only 

 likely to become an enemy of millions where food is scarce, 

 and that it may. be removed from water, where the fish are 

 being raised, by dredging it out with a shallow net sieve, and 

 taking the larvae out from among the millions by means of 

 a pair of forceps, while the sieve is just under the surface of 

 the water. 



It may be stated that mention of enemies of millions 

 found in St. Lucia by Dr. L. Nicholls was made in the Aijri- 

 cultural News, Vol. I.\', p. 315. 



