The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-10-25
Alcohol Hailed
New Power King

I NEW YORK; Oct. 25.-klng AL
cohol was hailed as a new monarch of
the realm of power in symposium
held at Rumford Hall by the New
York section of the American Chem
ical Society. The five well-known
chemists who addressed the section
told of more new sources of alcohol
which could be tapped and indicated
many new uses for it.
, E. B. Tunison said that probably
ten times as much alcohol as was
consumed before prohibition days
would eventually be utilized by the
American people, albeit, they have
decided to dispense with it as bev-
erage. In normal year the United
States drank 169,O00,000 gallons of
alcohol and used approximately 1OO,-
600, 900 gallons in the various arts.
Among the sources which could be
developed is the nipa palm which
fiourishes in the Philippines and 9TH
er tropical countries and yields, said
Mr.. Tunison, about Is per cent of
sugar which could be fermcnted.
From that source alone 50,000,O00
gallons year could easily be pro-
duced. The Mexican brew a fiery
beer from the sotol plant, a variety
of agave which exists in very large
quantities in their country from which
millions of gallons could be distilled.
BY changing the cellulose of sawdust
and other wood waste into sugar and
then ferementing that substance,
plenty more alcohol can also be OBJ
tanned. 1t is identical with that de-
rived from grain and is quite differ
ent from the mthy or so-called wood
alcohol of the "Pink Elephant" brand
which is made by another process.
Considerable alcohol can also be de-
rived from the waste of gas works.
Must Be Treated.
In order to bring all these alcohols
within the domain of .ne law, how
ever, they have to be denatured or
treated in such a way as to make
them unfit for human consumption,
There are now about forty denaturing
formulas which are approved by the
Internal Revenue Bureau. When al
cohol is used "simple of itself" as
honest John Falstaff used to say of
sack. the governmer' puts on a tax
of $4.15 gallon even II employed
for industrial purposes.
These undrinkable alcohols are used
excessively as solvents in the various
chemical industries anC especially in
the development of the rapidly grow
ing dye industry. They can serve
well in the manufacture of resins as
solvent and by their use a perfect
4 ly transparent product can be manu-
factured.
= Cheap Fuel.
! Mr.. Tunison prophesied that as the
petroleum supply decreases and the
price of gasoline is, therefore, raised,
alcohol will come into greater use as
a motor fuel Denatured ethyl alco-
hol, identical in composition with that
distilled from grains, is now cheap in
carload lots and there are compounds
of it which are sold even now for
only few cents more gallon retail
than the price of gasoline. Mr.. Tun-
ison said that these new alcohol fuels
yield more power to the gallon than
does gasoline and do not clog carbu-
refers. There is also a demand for
the so-called solidified alcohol, which
is made by addin0 parafne and such
substances to spirits.
DR.. W, F. Kressmunn gave details
concerning the manufacture of "Etbvl
Alcohol from Wood Waste" DR.. G.
F. Richmond told Of the possible in
creased use of the so-called Higher
Alcohols" which are employed in the
manufacture of extracts and per,
fumes. Prof. Ralph H. Mckee spoke
of "Alcohol from Sulphite Wood
Waste" and DR.. Leonard H. Crotch
er's topic was "The Use of Alcohol in
the Dye Industry"