Evening star., 1941-03-27

to 20 per cent Of a given amount
of alcohol to butadiene.
German chemists tried to improve
the process of preparing butadiene
from alcohol, but got nowhere
They turned to the far cheaper, but
still expensive, technique of making
butadiene out of coke and lime
This is still the basis of their syn
thetio rubbers.
Meanwhile. certain Polish chem
lists were working on the original
Russian idea and in 1898 announced
that they had developed a secret
me ,hod by which they could change
as much as 80 per cent Of the alcohol
with which they started into buta-
diene. They gave no details. Then
came the German invasion. The
Polish process was eagerly coveted
by Germany.
Secret Escapes Germans.
AS the story reaches America the
chief chemist and the owners of a
plant which had been set up escaped
to Rumanla, carrying on their backs
their precious "catalysts"-the ma
terlals with which the transforma-
tlons were made. Only the chemist
knew how it was done. When the
Germans took over the plant there
was not the slightest hint left which
would enable them to duplicate the
process.
Finally, through Greece and North
Africa, the man with the secret has
reached Portugal.
In the meantime, it is revealed by
DR.. William j. Hale of Midland,
Mich, former head of the chemical
division of the National Research
Council, he and a group of COL
leagues have assembled a collection
OF 80 patents, both English and
American, which make it possible
to manufacture an extra gallon of
alcohol out of a bushel of corn at
hardly any increase in cost.
In the past bushel has yielded a
maximum fabout 2ia gallons. Now
it is possible to get 3i2 gallons.
The Polish and American work
may fit together like two pieces OF
Jigsaw puzzle in a final syntheSis
OF cheap tires out of cheap corn.
Starch to Sugar to Alcohol.
With the fermentation process OF
extracting alcohol. DR.. Hale ex-
planned, the Starches of the corn
are turned into sugars by the use
of malt and the sugar in turn is
changed into alcohol and carbon
dioxide by the use of yeast. 1t has
just been discovered, he explained,
that the yeast also to some extent
splits up the insoluble cellulcSe in
the corn into carbon dioxide and
water, thus destroying to 10 pounds
a bushel of the residue of the fer
mentation process, which is used for
stock feed.
One OF the new processes, he says,
checks this action of the yeast COM
pletely and releases all the energy
of the yeast cells for the alcohol
producing work.
BY combining several other proc
eSSes, he said, the starches in the
corn are converted into sugar at
about one-tenth the cost involved
in using malt, hitherto considered
essential. The idea has been bor-
rowed from the japanese art Of
brewing their national liquor, sakl.
Cuts Cost 10 Cents.
BY another chemical process sub
stances in the corn known as dex-
trims, which are precursors of sugar
in nature. are changed into sugar
before the fermentation process is
started.
The net result, DR.. Hale said. Is
that the cost of making ethyl alco-
hol Is reduced about 10 cents a gall
Ion, from nearly "a cents to IA cents.
In the United States at present
there are several sources of buta-
dlene. one of the most promising
of which is butane. a component
of wet natural gas"