The Hawaiian gazette., 1914-12-11
Potash Fertilizers May Be Pro-
duced At Home From Plan
tation Wastes

salt containing forty two per cent Of
actual potash.
BY a modification Of the procedure.
a still purer salt can be obtaincd a.
win be shown later Tho salt obtained
in this instance contained an tho 20.
fash as mnriate and suIphate in about
equal proportions The sulphate Il the
salt used practically exclusively IN our
mixed fertilizers, and i would add bud
little TO the cost Of preparation 70 Oh.
tain the potash all in this form.
Distiilaticn ResIduss
/ In the preparation Of the lees or re.
sidiie from distillation for Fertilizer
purposes, the mere evaporation thereof
viii not suffice. The Ices do not dry
readily and the evaporated and dried
material Is very Microscopic. A method
recently suggested for beet molassc.
vinasse Is the addition Of suporphos.
phate 70 the partially concentrated lees.
when a permanently dry mass win re-
!, In q trial with the cane molas.e.
lees the resultant mixture dried very
slowly, and dry product was obtained
only with considerable difficulty Thi.
product Is, however, a. good fertilizer.
II contained Ia per cont nitrogen.
lO.ls per cent of potash, soluble Ia
water, and 3.5 per cent Of water solu.
bic phosphoric acid. ltis possible that
with further trials this method may lie
made suitable for rcsidues from cane
molasses distillatIon.
NJ - Il
h In this connection Il must be noted
that in uxual fermentation and listil.
lery practice il Is customary to add
some heterogeneous material as food for
the yeast. In this case no such mater.
ini was added, and the nitrogen IN the
residue originated entirely in the mo.
losses itself II heterogeneous food had
been used, this would All have been re-
covered in the residue, adding to is
fertilizer value; aud Furthermore. there
may have possibly been better show
ing ~ the alcohol end
A cCmplbts Tertnizer Produced
An Rtteniiit wss further made 70 dry
this less4 superphQsphate mixture by
strong snlphntie aeRLA This atte6nt
was not entirely succcssful, the product
beink too hard and not easily pulveriz.
eda Nevertheless It is worthy Of fur
Their trial, shhnld occasion demnnd II.
The black powder analysed, LIZ per
cent nitrogen; 1925 per cent total 20.
teshi 9.ta per cent potash, water solu-
pleI and 4.ls per cent water soluble
phosphoric acid.
II Is thus seen that the procedure
does not canse any great loss Of nitro
gen, nor does il change the Condition
Of the phosphoric acid added as super
phosphate. With little more expcf.
fence, II may be expected TO avoid the
feaction which caused so much Of tho
potash 70 BECOME less readily available.
Another lot Of less, 10 which no 81.
perphosphate was added, was ovapof-
atcd aud burned at low tomperaturc.
leaving q char containing thirty.four
per cent of potash, al available. Tho
charming Of this material differed from
that Of the molasscs alone, In that after
the source of heat was removed the
coke continued TO burn slowly for sew
efai hubts, resulting in more thorough
combustion Of the organic matter. and
therefore less carbon, lighter colofcd
ash, and a higher potash content. The
nitrogen was Of course entirely lost.
Saving the Nitrogen
There would be no object in incineral.
ling this material IL Il were possible
TO get II into shape easily handled /;
and as stated already, the supefphos
plate o. sulphurie arid method may
YET accomplish this purpose, with the
further saving Of the nitrogen content
This char was leached, yielding salt
containing 500 per cent Of potash, pro-
l'fnbly lnrgcly the chloride salt
IlThe following comparison will be Of
Interest as showing the purity Of this
product;
Per cent
sulphate Of potash chemically
| rure A.. ..f.f,... $50. ..4 5f.O6
l'sulihate Of potayh; fertiliser
talt 40 20 52
Double Manutial salt ..... rs
Chloride Of potash, chemically
pure ~. .ssss.. 63.l8
Chloride OF potash, FERTILIZER
II H'it =. .t..,..l5,i.'.-. ,...'...s 40 10 60
lKaihit (ernde potash salt) 10 10 IA
Now BptirIly Lost,
| a corridbrable quantity Of molasscs
Is ncing burned today in mill furnaces.
but the method Of burning is such that
part OF the potash is volatilized aud
the remainder forms Stag in which
its availability Is largely unfinished
II not entirely destroyed. A method
Of bursting n retotts was described at
the last engineers meeting which will
Conserve the p6tasi IN available form.
and the value Of mclesses should DO
eonsldered rs carefully front this ~
frotn, he fuel view point. II is not In.
Possiblc that retoftA burning molasses
IN the producer gas system can be
,,evisea, obtainingl thus both hear And
the mo- lesr valuable residual potash a.
| an available form. I.ll M