The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-12-08

Eliminates All water r. =, A.; -
i The principle on which Mr.. Williams
has worked is that it is not the glucose,
gums or ash in molasses which have
prevented the sucrose therein from
erystalliaing, but that 1t islssQlely tho
water in !, the molasses that prevents
this crYstalhzatipn, Removing the
water, then, is the only method by
which the molasses can be made to give
up, its .suerose, he believes. ~"
This is the first step in the process
boiling the molasses to practically
complete absence of water.
The next important departure in the
sew process is the use Of "A high speed
centrifugal, On this point Mr.. Will
iiams explained TO the meeting yester'
lay that he had Stused a centrifugal
built by Watson 4aidlaw, Company in
1905. The centrifugal has been run to
A speed of from 1900 to 2100 revolu,
tons a minute, he ssaidz-1almost twice
as fast as eentrifngals are ordinarily
Iun, " E,HHs,eH .baNgtr'
Mr., Williams explained later that
specially built eentrifugpls and appa
rntus for breaking tthe hard massecuite
are probably the only two machinery
items on which there would be add
tiopal cost. The cost Of the additional
apparatus, he said. would not exceed
| approximately $4,000.
All kinds of difficulties were expert
| enced with the centrifugals and break
ing apparatus at first. and there were
pther mechanical difficulties encoun
tered such as might be expected in such
pioneering work.
solidifed Molasses
Boiling the molasses to an absence OF
moisture results in what MIR. Williams
calls sOlidified molasses. a most diff
fcult thing to handle at first, but capa
Bile Of being operated on with suitable
equipment In this connection hi
ooiRted out that under his process HI
proposed TO boil No. l molasses t.
'solidity," and produced figures Il
show the results from such treatment.
When asked for figures on the fnan
'ial practicability of the process, Mr.
Williams said:
81 have had no chance yet to maxi
letail estimates of cost OF comparison
of the market value of the sugar takel
from the final molasses with the marke
value of the final molasses at present
but the results thus far show that it u
entirely practical to recover at leas
oBe,half of the sucrOse from ,so'calleS
final rlolasses" and convert it int
marketable sugar"
Millions Saved ~.
Mr.. Williams pointed out that in fg
uring the factory efficiency of the boil
ing house the limit of work has beel
accepted as thirty-fve per cent grayit.
purity of final molasses. -, "s-,
The average purity for the waste mo
Lasses for all plantations in the Island
last year. Mr.. Williams pointed out
was thirty-nine and twenty-three hun
dredths per cent. Thus far Mr.. Viii
liams' experiments have reached
point of reducing this gravity purity h
twenty-seven and five tenths per sent.
"In reducing the average purity o
the waste molasses from thirty.nin
and twenty three hundredths per cen
TO the figure thus far reached, twenty
seven and five tenths per cent, b.
this process said Mr.. Williams
"there is represented q saving of fit
per cent of the sucrose now lost in tn
waste molasses---a saving which in tur
represents gain equal to three and
half per cent of the total commercia
sugar crop of the Territory"
Taking the estimated sugar crop TO
the sugar year 19l6.l7--650, 900 tons
and the average price for sugar re
ceived during the past year--$lll
ton-the three and half per cent gal
would represent a money gain on tn
marketable produce of $a,525,25O.
Mr. Williams said yesterday that tn
special machinery necessary would b
manufactured by the Honolulu Iro
Works, During the year 1917, after
further "try out" at I,aupahOehOe, b
expects to perfect details of the new
IL l.