The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1901-11-16


tuted for milk in cooking, and has a great
future in this respect.
Chemistry applied TO the sugar industry
has been invaluable; and, particularly in
connection with the beet sugar manufac-
ture, has recently effected wonderful
saving. The waste in the making of beet
sugar was at first enormous, because the
lnolasses was absolute waste 1t contains
products from the beet roots which give it
very bitter taste, and is also rich in an
alkali which spoils its flavor. So, although
more than one-half of the weight of the
molasses was sugar, it was unavailable save
for fermentation and alcohol. Expert
ment proved that dry lime, mixed with
the molasses, combined with the sugar,
forming a product insoluble in water.
Washing the molasses would then separate
this product from all the other elements.
The lime and sugar product being heated
with carbonic acid, the lime combined with
the carbon, forming an insoluble product,
and leaving the sugar free to be easily
separated By this process today 80 per
cent. of the sugar is recovered from beet
molasses, and there is practically no mo-
Iasses in the beet sugar factories. In the
manufacture of cane sugar the molasses is
about as valuable as the amount Of sugar
contained in it would be, so there is no
use for the process adopted in beet sugar
making; but there is less weight of sugar
in the molasses than there was formerly.
This fact, and the fact that the molasses is
now made in vacuum pans and cannot be
burned or thickened as it was in the old
fashioned open pans, accounts for the fact
that there is no more black molasses, and
no more black gingerbread such as mother
use to make.
The glucose manufacturers have called
in chemists, and found new source Of
profit The corn grain has, in addition to
its starch product, tiny germ in which
lies its life principle. This germ was form
erly crushed with the starch and then sep
arated and thrown aside as waste. Very
lately it has been shown that this germ is
rich in oil which can be utilized. The
germ is now separated from the starch and
crushed. The oil gathered finds a ready
market, and within the last five years mil
lions of dollars worth of this oil has been
exported to Europe, where all corn pro-
ducts are in great demand. After the oil
is taken from the germ the gluten left in
the cake is used for varnish, and the resi-
due is used for cattle food
The corn stalk also is ground and used
for cattle food, but first the pith of the
stalk is extracted and used for the lining
of vessels, the theory being that if fis
sure occurs in the framework of the vessel
the pith lining, becoming wet, will swell
and to some extext close the fssure
The cottonseed oil industry has elimi-
mated its waste almost entire, although
twenty years ago every part of the cotton
seed save the oil was waste product. In
the cottonseed oil factory, now, the seed is
collected after coming through the cotton
gin, and is first stripped of its lint, which
is used in the manufacture of certain kinds
of paper, felts, etc. Next the shell of the
seed is removed and either ground for cat
tie food or used for fuel. In the latter
case the ashes are collected for potash
The kernel of the seed is ground and
pressed to extract the oil, and the residue
is used for cattle food. The oil in process
of refining gives off waste which enters
into soap making, and the making of oleo-
margarine.
Glycerine, used in such great quantities
at present, was for years a waste product.
All waste from fatty oils contains com
pounds of an acid with glycerine. The
acid will combine with an alkali, leaving
the glycerine in watery solution, from
which it is collected by evaporation and
distillation Immense quantities of this
reclaimed waste product are used in the
making of explosives.
When steel is melted in Bessemer con-
verter the phosphorus, which used to be a
nuisance, is separated from the steel by the
introduction of lime, with which the phos-
phorns combines readily. This phospho-
rus is then used as fertilizer.
The Stag from iron furnaces is converted
into cement. The tin is taken from old
tin cans by chemical process and is used
over and over again.
Even the acids used for chemical pur-
poses are not allowed to outlive their use
fulness with the accomplishment of their
purpose. The Standard Oil Company
formerly wasted great quantities of sulphu-
ric acid after it had been used to remove
the impurities from the oil The acid was
drained off into the river. Now it is used
in fertilizer particularly adapted to soil
where phosphate rock must be dissolved.
Then again in certain great galvanizing
works the iron was cleaned with sulphuric
acid, which was then run into the nearest
river. This method of disposing of the
waste was forbidden, and chemists were
consulted The solution was made stron-
ger so that it could be clarified and used
repeatedly. Finally, when it could no lon
ger be used for washing, it was evaporated
and the sulphate of iron extracted from it.
This by-product proved so valuable that it
is now the chief product of the works.
The list might be protracted indefinitely,
and there seems to be in the industrial
world today no product SO utterly worthless
that it may not find profitable incarnation
-, cr,,,o Gown, or otbar