Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-10-17
MANUFACTURE OF DENATURED ALCOHOL
Government Restrictions Upon the Manu-
facture-Expert Chemists Advice
to Prospective Manu-.
facturers.

| The following interesting and in
stIuctive article on the manufac ture
of denatured alcohol. subject of gen.
eral interest at this time, was prepar-
ed by Carl Shelley Miner for "Popu-
lar Mechanics and was published in
the October number of that periodical.
The article is skillfully prepared and
| gives a very clear and concise account
of the manufacture of denatured al
cohol. Probably no piece of legis-
lation in the last decade has created
such widespread interest, and even
excitement, as the Free Alcohol
Bill. The public has demanded infor-
nation about every phase of it. The
daily papers, trade journals and magi-
zines have found the subjects good
copy and have filled their columns
with stories, the most notable char
acteristic of which has been a vast op-
timism in regard to the future of this
"new industry" the manufacture of
denatured alcohol. The impression
has gone abroad that alcohol may be
protitably manufactured from almost
any sort of vegetable material, in al
most any place, by almost anybody.
Wildly exaggerated statements as to the
yield from various materials, probable
prices and extent of markets have
been made, and the result has been to
induce a sort of alcohol madness in the
public. About one in every ten men
has a plan for manufacturing denatur.
ed alcohol, and all of them want in
formation to help them plan definite
ly. This magazine has received
scores Of letters of inquiry about the
process of manufacture, availability of
materials and. in fact, every other
phase of the whole question. 1t is in
hopes of an swering as many as possi-
BILE of these inquiries that this article
is written. shall try to enumerate
the materials from which alcohol may
profitably be produced, to describe
briefly the process of manufacture,
and to give the prospective manufac-
ture an idea of the essentials to be
most considered in making his plans.
One thing should be thoroughly un-
derstood, that the manufacture of
denatured alcohol is not new indus
try. The free alcohol bill did not
open the market to new product; it
merely enlarged the market of an old
one. The manufacture of denatured al
cohol is only the manufacture of alco-
hol. The process of denaturing is no
more complicated than the process of
putting cream into coffee. The govern
ment decides on suitable denaturing
agent. probably wood alcohol and the
manufacturer mixes with this product
under the supervision of revenue
officer In view of this fact, it is
obvious that the man who enters this
field must be prepared to meet the
organized competition Of the distil-
lerS. Worse il is even rumored that
Standard Oil is TO take over the large
distilleries and attempt to control the
alcohol market. However, the raw
material is so abundant and so varied
that no such thing as cornering it is
possible. Roughly speaking, any ma
terial containing starch or sugar is a
source of alcohol. Many processes
have been patented for producing al
cohol from cellulose which includes
wood fiber, straw, leaves, etc., but
none of them have been successfully
operated, although it is said that a
company in the south is now produc-
| ing alcohol from sawdust. 1t is,
however, safe to say that this method
will not affect the alcohol market for
many years.
| The great source o. alcohol in this
county is corn, and there seems to be
little reason for believing that it will
not continue to be. On this account,
it will be taken as type. and the
process of manufacturing alcohol from
it will be described, and then the var
iations from that process, necessary
for the use of the other materials will
be discussed. The first step in the
process is to change the starch of the
corn into sugar, for it is only after
this change that the fermentation
which produces alcohol can take
place. The corn, in either a whole or
ground state, is mixed with little
water, and heated by steam, some
times under pressure, sometimes with
the addition of small amount of
acid, until the starch is thoroughly
gelatinized, which means that the
starch cell is completely disin-
tegrated, so that the malt used to
transform the starch into sugar can
act more readily. A thick paste is
formed. such as the housewife uses for
a starch pudding. The mass is then
cooled to about lao degrees F., and
some barley malt, made to cream
with little water, is added. The
diastase, an unorganized ferment con.