The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-03-16

The fact" he said that the ordinary
processes Of pressure do not secure much
I over half the sugar in the cane has long
/ been source Of serious consideration with
those who have studied the sugar problem
f-cm an economic Point u view, That 50
I large percentsSe Of the raw material
| should be lost Is not only repugrant 70 the
I economic sense, but i also opposed to all
I the advances made IN modern methods Of
manufacture. The sugar industry. in or
7 der - hold its place IN the sharp cornpesi-
tion ot the times, must prevent, hereafter,
IN soris way. the terrible losses which it
has suffered u the past.
In respect Of sorghum these losses may
be elsSsed under the following heads;
Loss Of sugar due to imperfect extraction
from the cane; by publication ofthe Juice;
by waste IN ScumS; los u seeds and
blades, and los Of baSsSse. In this con
nsction only the first and second OF these
sources OF los VIII be considered, and the
rest reserved for discussion On some other
occasion
1t might at first appear that the loss
due 50 incomplete extraction might be
avoided by q mCre perfect construction Of
the rolls or BY duplicating them. L Is
true that much can be saved II this way
4 heavy mill with its rolls set iron to mon
and driven by eorresporChnSly heavier
engines viii certainly increase the per,
cen5s2,e Of extraction Still more Is this
the case when the rnil Is duplicated. and
It i now IN many Of the best sugar fac
torres. By the use Of springs or elastic
cushions. or BY hydraulie regulators adj
lUrStinS the rolls 10 the thickness Of the
increasing the amount Of Juice obtained
Benefit has also been derived from satur-
atinS the baSISse aS It passes from the
hrst set Of rolls to the second with steam
OF hot water Still further advantage i
found to follow preliminary treatment
u the cane by passing II through q shred
der before delivering It to the rolls ThiS
machine reduces the canes TO 3 kind of
pulp. IN which state they can be fed more
evenly to the rulls And give up more readi-
" their iuice. With the best kind Of
shredder and the best duplicate mills the
degree Of extraction Is sufficiently great TO
satisfy al reasonable expectations. But
there are grave objections TO even this
method Of getting the JUICE. The chef
Of these i that. let the pondsrUus machIn
err be ss strong il you VIII, II i liable to
break. and leave the sugar grower with
the alternative Of tedious and costly re
p1rsti0u OF i total loss OF his unwurksd
crop Again the power that Is required TO
drive such . mil l. great, being perhaps
not less than $50 horse power for plant
capable Of working 200 tons Of cane per
day. In the case Of the sugar beet q ike
eIperisnce has been suffered The old
uethOd Of raspIng the beets and then sub
isctInE the pulp TO repeated hydraulic
pressure with intermediary treatment
with hot water, secured indeed g very
satisfactory extraction OF the sugar, but
It has had TO give way to another process
ucrs perfect. and requiring machinery
which It l. almost impossible TO break or
put out Of order. This Is the process Of
diffusion. In the case Of the beet the diff
fusion process has not cuns into general
Use solely because OF the higher degree Of
extraction obtained by It. But the maehIn
cry required for It Is 50 much less pond
srUuS, the power required TO work It Is 50
much less. the liability TO accident 50
greatly diminished. and the juice obtain
ed 80 much purer, that, even II no more
complete extraction were possible than by
the old method yet It would still be pre-
ferred
The process Of diffusion Is based upon
the physical phenomena known Is osmOse-
When a CrystallizabIe and amOrphous
body are n solution and separated By q
thu membrane from pure water or less
dense solution Of the same substance 1t Is
found that the crystalloid body passes
RAPIDLY through the membrane until the
two liquids are practically equally saturat-
hand tends TO form an equilibrium much
more slowly 50 much 80 indeed that BY
the TINE the crystaIlOid has distributed
Itself evenly on the two liquids the col
loii l. still nearly all N The original sOlu-
ton By Z repetition Of this process Ii
WIS possible TO effect Al almost complete
Of the two bodies In 4 sugar
producing plant the cell walls, with
Ii which the sugar Is contained are mem
branes. through which this 0suOse goes
on. By bringing the finely sliced sub
stance Of such q plant into contact with
SUGGEST ye portions Of warm water almost
every trace Of the sugar passes out. and
the water passes n TO taks It's place II
Is thus seen that the diffusion Is quite
from uacerztion- In the latter
process the material from which the ez-
traction Is TO be made Is first reduced to 4
pulp and the cell walls ruptured The |
Is Just as perfect IN maceration |
zs II diffusion. but soluble crystaIloids |
and CuLIoIds are alike removed
Five years EgU- during the time that |
Dr. Collier was making his valuable re
IN sorghum the department Of |
Agriculture made experiments looking to |
the extraction Of the sugar remaining II !
The bazasse BY successive treatment with |
charges Of warn water 1t vii hes seen az /
l1ce. however that these were experiments |
IN uzceratiOu rather than n diffusion. and |
yet they were certainly steps N the right /
direction
1t was not. however until the fall Of \
1883 that any further attempts were made
During the proceeding summer the depart
nsut had constructed an experimental /
diffusion battery and cane slicer for the
purpose OF trying the process on q small
scale 1t the sane time an Investigation
vas made Of the attempt to introduce diff
;usI1u On large scale into Louisiana ten
7ears before and much valuable infurma-
non was secured OF this subject from Mr.
B. Seq Of New Orleans who had been an
and persistent advocate OF
he feasibility Of applying diffusion to
iugE cane
1t was found that the partial failure Of
he trial was due rather 10 crude and IN
Eisldly forms Of machinery than TO any
ltheC fErlt inherent II the process Il was
Tue that the process had besu condemned
I that 1t had not gained any permanent
i0othold among the sugar makers but this
allure appeared 20 be due rather to the
zck Of funds for continuing the expert
neut than to auy unsUtahIeness Of the
lrpcess itself
In fact the Department was fully salts
5ed- from q careful study Of the data II
he report Of the experiments made, that
T was worth while to rseommence the II
-f stigztiol OF q more scientific basis, and
2 It'll the hope that Congress would furnish
lsa1s for ItE successful prosecution
When the first experiments were tired
EIth diffusion IN 1853 the chemist Of the
Department was convinced that the orCi-
aarv methods Of detecting would gIFE the