THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY. PART L 



127 



Text Fig. No. 2. — Spontaneous fermentation of the nipa palm sap. 



There is no doubt but that a large jDroportion of the fermentable 

 sugars is lost through the careless and improper methods employed in 

 the handling of the sap. This will be fully brought out in the section 

 on the distilling. I believe a fair average of sucrose in the sap of the 

 nipa palm is between 14 and 15 per cent. Fourteen per cent sucrose 

 should produce 7.66 per cent by volume of alcohol. This estimate is 

 l)ased on the following calculations: 



/ 14 \ 



Theoretically, 14 per cent sucrose will yield 7.5 grams of alcohol \T~Qe/' 



Pasteur has shown that 4 to 5 per cent of the sucrose is lost from the alcohol 

 yield because it is split into glycerol, succinic acid, and cai-bon dioxide, and 

 Harker " has proved that with molasses the yields of alcohol are about 82 per 

 cent of the theoretical. Assuming that the alcohol yield of the tuba is the same 

 as that of molasses, 6.15 grams of alcohol (7.5X0.82), equivalent to 7.66 per 

 cent by volume, result. I have no doubt but that this figure could be reached 

 in actual practice. 



Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind. (1906), 25, 831. 



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