THE CUBA REVIE JV 



19 



Cuban Commercial Matters 



Use of Alcohol as a Motor Fuel in Cuba 



The possibility of using the by-products 

 of sugar making, especially the heavy mo- 

 lasses residue, for production of alcohol 

 suitable for use in motor vehicles has only 

 recently attracted general attention in Cuba, 

 according to a report by Acting Commercial 

 Attache Chester Lloyd Jones. The low 

 price to which all products of sugar cane 

 have fallen during the past year has in- 

 creased interest in the possibility of supply- 

 ing at least national needs for motor fuel 

 from local resources. The report con- 

 tinues: 



Experiments with alcohol as a fuel for auto- 

 mobile and other gasoline engines have been 

 carried on for some years with encouraging 

 results by distillers and others, but until recently 

 the product was not offered to the trade in 

 active competition with gasoline. Public 

 interest in the substitution of a national for an 

 imported product is aroused, and a large number 

 of the automobiles now operating in the capital 

 are using alcohol as their motive power. 



The slowness with which alcohol has won 

 acceptance as a fuel for gasoline engines in Cuba 

 is partly explained by the rules for denaturizing 

 which were in force up to July 2, 1921. In 

 order to protect the revenue derived from alcohol 

 utilizable as a beverage, the Government 

 required the addition to alcohol intended for 

 fuel of certain denaturizing elements which, 

 when the alcohol was burned, produced a 

 deposit of naphthalene. 



Decree Regaedixg Alcohol Denaturaliz.a.- 



TION 



To eliminate this difi&culty, a decree was 

 issued prescribing a formula for denaturizing 

 alcohol testing 95 rectified degrees (grados 

 rectificados) intended for fuel purposes. 



Manufacturers claim that for use in Cuba the 

 addition of gasoline prescribed in the formula is 

 unnecessary, since under the temperatures pre- 

 vailing in the island, alcohol vaporizes satis- 

 factorily without it. The trade, however, 

 favored the addition of gasoline to make doubly 

 sure that vaporizing would be satisfactory and 

 that no dissatisfaction on this point could arise 

 among those who tried out the new fuel. The 

 coloring, another constituent, is intended to 

 allow alcohol denaturized according to the 

 formula to be easily distinguished from that 

 otherwise modified for industrial uses. 



Present Manufacture 



A large number of distillers in various parts 

 of the island are now manufacturing alcohol 

 suitable for use in automobiles. Because of the 



very recent development of this phase of the 

 distilling industry no official statistics are 

 available. Statistics collected from private 

 sources by a company which is stated to be 

 producing slightly more than half ot the total 

 current output indicate that during the month of 

 August the production was between 13,000 and 

 14,000 gallons per day. Production is now 

 equivalent to sale, and manufacturers could 

 easily double their daily yield if the market 

 would consume the product. 



As yet, only the lower grades of the molasses 

 by-products are used in manufacturing motor 

 spirit. About 23^ gallons of molasses are 

 required for producing 1 gallon of the fuel. 

 Manufacturers believe that with improvement 

 in methods of production it may be profitable 

 to manufacture alcohol from the pressed cane 

 fiber (bagasse), which is now largely consumed 

 directly in the furnaces of the sugar mills. 



Cost of Production 



The distillers claim they will ultimately he 

 able to produce at a cost below that at present. 

 Freight rates are still high, and thus increase the 

 cost of assembling the raw material and of 

 delivering that portion of the product which 

 must be shipped by rail. The manufacturers 

 earlier in the year generally provided for their 

 season's supply of molasses at a price far above 

 its present level of about 2 cents per gallon. 



The representative of one of the largest pro- 

 ducers of motor spirit states that with molasses 

 at its present level his company can produce 

 motor spirit to be sold at 20 cents per gallon. 



Mileage — .Adjustments, Etc. 



Though the consumption of motor spirit has 

 increased rapidly since July last, it can not be 

 said that its value compared to gasoline as a 

 fuel is yet a matter of common agreement in this 

 market. The manufacturers claim that alcohol 

 modified as required by the decree cited gives, 

 when used in automobiles, mileage equal to that 

 attained with gasoline. Preliminar},- experi- 

 ments by a public ser\dce corporation in Habana 

 with machines specially adjusted for alcohol 

 seem to confirm these claims, and similar reports 

 are made by a number of the larger automobile 

 agencies. Other users, among them some who 

 are ver\' anxious to see alcohol develop as a 

 motor fuel, have not had such favorable results 

 and insist that no definite statement can yet be 

 made concerning the best method for adapting 

 alcohol for use in automobiles nor as to its 

 mileage cost compared to gasoline. 



Certain Changes in Motor Required 



It is generally accepted that much better 

 operating results are obtained when alcohol is 

 modified by the addition of certain other sub- 

 stances, especialh' ones which furnish a certain 

 amount of lubrication and eliminate the 

 tendency to rusting which appears when alcohol 



