ALCOHOL 



19 



material per gallon of spirit, are shown 

 in the following tabulation for different 

 degrees of juice extraction. 



Yields of .\lcoliol From Sorghum Stalks 



With Varying Degrees of Juice 



Extraction 



Since the gums and slimy bodies con- 

 tained in sorghum juice do not interfere 

 in the least with its fermentation, and 

 the plant can be grown readily over a 

 very wide range of territory, it is plain 

 that the material deserves favorable con- 

 sideration in connection with the manu- 

 facture of alcohol, and that it is likely 

 to be utilized in the future in this way. 



Sugar Beets — The following figures rel- 

 ative to the composition of the sugar beet 

 may be considered as a representative 

 analyses: (11 



Per cent. 



Water 81,51 



Ash 62 



Protein 1.72 



Fiber 1,35 



Fat 07 



Carbohydrates 14.73 



Total 100,00 



The records of several experimental 

 fields cultivated at the agricultural ex- 

 periment stations in California, Colorado, 

 Michigan and Wisconsin show sugar per- 

 centages running from 13 to 16, Fourteen 

 per cent will probably be a fair commer- 

 cial average for the content of ferment- 

 able material in sugar beets as grown at 

 present. 



In France, where the beet has been 

 used extensively as a source of alcohol, 

 it has been found necessary to extract 

 the juice for fermentation, using one of 

 the extraction methods employed in the 

 sugar factories. The pulp, while it offers 

 no obstacle to fermentation, forms a jelly 

 on heating which interferes seriously with 



(1) Twelfth Annual Report Indiana Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, 1899, p, 71, 



distillation. Data obtained from the re- 

 sults of actual distillery yields show that 

 for every 100 pounds of sugar contained 

 in the beets entering the French dis- 

 tilleries, seven and one-tenth gallons of 

 absolute alcohol were produced, equiva- 

 lent to eight gallons at 180-degree proof, 

 which is the minimum strength used in 

 this country for denaturing purposes. 



With beets at $4,75 to $5 per ton, the 

 price commonly paid by sugar factories 

 in this country, and a sugar content of 

 14 per cent, the raw material needed to 

 produce a gallon of 180-degree alcohol 

 would represent a value of 22 cents. Un- 

 der present conditions this probably would 

 be a prohibitive price, but the time may 

 come when beets will be used as a source 

 of alcohol in the United States as they 

 are in Europe. 



Siifiar Cane — Spencer gives the follow- 

 ing figures as the average of about 40 

 cane-juice analyses made at the Mag- 

 nolia Plantation, Louisiana: 



Per rent. 



Water 83.6 



Sucrose 14,1 



Reducing sugars 6 



Undetermined solids 1,7 



Total 100,0 



On the presumption that 72 per cent of 

 the total weight of the sugar cane can be 

 obtained by two pressings, as juice of 

 this composition, a ton of cane should 

 yield 16,7 gallons of alcohol. If cane is 

 worth from |3 to $3,25 at the factory, 

 this would make the cost of the raw 

 material for the alcohol about 19 cents 

 per gallon. 



Sugar-corn Cannery Wastes — The stalks 

 of the sugar corn contain quite large 

 amounts of sugar analyses made in the 

 Bureau of Chemistry having disclosed its 

 presence in proportions varying between 

 7 and 15 per cent. Investigations con- 

 ducted at a corn cannery in Illinois, in 

 1906, showed that the waste stalks 

 amounted to about 40 per cent of the total 

 weight of corn brought to the factory, and 

 that it was possible to produce from them 

 from 6 to 10 per cent of alcohol, with a 

 safe average of 8 per cent. On this basis 

 about 11 gallons of alcohol should be re- 



