Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-13
DENATURED ALCOHOL.

-
alcohol has been suitably denatured
was enacted in the hope that som'
cheap source would he found from
which alcohol could be produced for gen
cral use in the arts and industries. Thl.
expectation has not. thus far, beer
realized.
Many plant products have been men-
toned and n few of them investigated
with this end in view. In the arid West
attention was early called to the merits
OF the cactus. or prickly pear. as a
source of alcohol. Since alcohol is COM
posed of carbon. oxygen, and hydrogen,
the constituents OF sugar with Some
water added. il is ordinarily prepared
| by the fermentation of those various
| plant products. called carbohydrates,
| such as corn, beets. starch, sugar, and
1 molasscs.
| In Germany and Sweden crude alco-
hol for use in the arts is made from
potato pealings. and when we last heard
the price OF this alcohol quoted. it was
about fifteen cents per gallon In those
| countries.
In New Moxico. the abundant fruits
of some of the prickly pears. or tunas.
are found to contain from five to fifteen
per cent of sugar, and the New Mexico
Experiment Station has been investf-
eating tho possibility of making dena-
tured alcohol from tunas and other
sources.
The results are published in bulle-
tin II of that station. They show the
folly of theoretical calculations as to
the amount of alcohol obtainable from
any material when these calculations
are based on the percentage of starch
or sugar. or Of the obtainable nitrogen
free extract, which the material con-
taIns. The experiments indicate that
the stems of the prickly pear cannot.
by present methods. be successfully
used for producing alcohol at price
that would enable it to be used In man
ufacturing.
The heating value of alcohol is about
10 per cent of that of gasoline. one
gallon of which contains about six
pounds of combustiblc matter. while al
cohol has but about four pounds. These
two substances are similar In compost
ton. ITO compete with gasoline at
twenty cents per gallon" says bulletin
80 of the Iowa experiment station. "94
per cent alcohol must be sold from thir-
teen to seventeen cents per gallon. and
90 per cent alcohol from eleven to flf-
teen cents per gallon"
But alcohol Is three times as effec-
tive In heat production as Is kerosene
oil. and on account of its cleanliness it
would replace the latter and gasoline
also. long before It's price became as
low as that OF either of these fuels.
The New Mexico bulletin mentions
the fact that people will usually pay
moro for a fuel that Is both convenient
and eafc. For this reason kerosene is
now generally used In lamps though
gasoline appears to have Yearly four
times as much lighting efficienSy. From
the candle power hours given for the
seen that, when burned under those
conditions II kerosene is worth 25 cents
per gallon. we can afford to pay so
cents for a gallon of gasoline and get
the same efficiency. yet many continue
to use kerosene because of its greater
safety and convenience. Since the
lighting efficiency of alcohol is 2.5 times
that of kerosene. when used in lamps
similar to those used in the above
experiment. one could afford to pay so
cents per gallon for alcohol to be used
In lighting, If 1t had none of the other
advantages of safety, cleanliness. etc.
over kerosene.
Prior to the Civil war, the use of al
cohol for industrial purposes was ex-
tensiye. In 1861 it became necessary
prosecution of the war. In order to
raise this revenue for the government.
tax of 20 cents per gallon WAS placed on
all distilled spirits. This revenue tax
was increased from time to time until
now it amounts to s2.0S per gallon on
high proof (s4 per cent? alcohol. This
high revenue tax and the introduction
of cheap methyl alcohol, which could be
used as a substitute In most cases.
caused the latter to almost entirely su-
persede the tax paid ethyl alcohol In
the industries. Methyl alcohol could be
bouht for about rs cents per gallon,
while ethyl alcohol. taxed. costs $500
to SO per gallon. Ethyl alcohol Is pre-
ferablc to methyl alcohol for most
purposes and can be produced at less
cost. The steadily increasing demand
for alcohol in the arts. and for a cheap
source Of liquid fuel to take the place
of gasoline and kerosene, finally re-
suited in the passage by Congress of a
law which took effect September l. 1907,
permitting the use of tax free domestic,
denatured alcohol for general purposes,
BY denaturcd alcohol Is meant ethyl
alcohol that has been rendered unfit
for use as a beverage by the addition
of certain poisonous or rcpugnant sub
stances which Will not interfere with
It's use for Industrial purposes. These
denaturants must be OF such a char
acter that they cannot be easily re-
moved from tho alcohol by distillation
or otherwise. Methyl alcohol ir the de-
naturant in most general use.
1t is difficult to estimate the exact
cost OF production OF alcohol itself
olI Ia l. b.