Evening star., 1942-12-03
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study

In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.
Recent improvements in distilling
have added a potential 2oO,OOo,0oo GAL
Ions to Americas industrial alcohol pro-
duction.
This is revealed, for the industry as a
whole, by H. F. Wilkie, vice president Of
the Joseph E. Seagrams Co., in report
to the Quarterly Journal of Alcohol
Without these improvements, the esti-
mate for 1912 production is 657000,000
gallons Industrial alcohol is vital to
war in many ways, especially in the
manufacture of various explosives.
The new methods developed by re-
search workers in the major distilleries,
Mr.. Wilkie says, have made possible the
discarding of 80 per cent of the existing
cooking. mashing, yeasting and ferment-
ing equipment. In the hands of the
small producer this has advanced little
in the past half century and there was
almost a complete lapse of research dur
ing the period of prohibition. There was
little incentive, since the demand for
industrial alcohol could be filled by a
few distilleries.
With the present policy Of producing
no new whiskey or brandy for the dura-
ton, efficiency of high-proof alcohol
production has become of major i'm
portance.
Advantages of the new processes, says
Mr. Wilkie, are:
The normal cooking time is three
hours. BY the fast, continuous process
this can be reduced to five minutes.
There is decrease. varying from IS
to 20 per cent, in the amounts of critical
construction materials.
All materials used in construction of
the material are easily obtainable.
it yields an average of one to two
tenths more proof gallons per bushel Of
grain than the older types of cooking
equipment.
In the past, he says, most small
pldlllo lldfC 0Aoe1lCo az l1oiil t1o W 11o
proof BY the introduction of more
advanced types of equipment this proof
can be increased to 1870. At present SO
per cent of the industrial alcohol pro-
duction facilities are located near the
seacoast. Conversion of small distiller-
les scattered throughout the country to
high proof alcohol plants would tend
to decrease possibilities of sabotage.
I'm the past rectifying columns for
the production of ethyl alcohol were con-
structed of copper. This metal is not
now available to the distilling industry
since 1t is essential for other vital war
purposes. To supplement high proof
spirit production. rectifying column
has been constructed of wood instead of
the usual copper. Approximately 110
proof high wine vapors from existing
beer columns enter the atwood rectify-
ing column for additional distillation to
100 proof.
wooden stills, used extensively in the
latter years of the 10Th century, have
been used In past years in Scotland and
Canada. The wooden chamber stills,
however, differed in design from the re-
cent advancement in still construction.
Possibly the use of silver will replace
vital war materials in the distilling in
dustry This metal could be used ad-
vantageously because of its heat trans
fer properties and because at present 1t
is available in large amounts"
Wild plants of the New World are
meeting some of the war emergencies
and promise to become major crops
The latest example is malva blanca,
native of Cuba and Venezuela, whose
fibers have many of the properties of
jute for bag-making and in some re-
spects are superior. A contract has been
made by the Board of Economic War
fare and the Defense Supplies Corp. with
Cuban firm for 300-acre experimental
farm to serve as a source of seed for
expanded operations next spring. The
first crop will be harvested in December
There should be enough seed to plant
| 5000 acres.
Claims for the fiber are that it can be
made into bags for sugar, rice and coffee
| at a cost no greater than those made
from jute fiber and that the bags will
be superior, especially in their better
resistance to water.
Cuba alone requires about 100000
bags year for rice, sugar and coffee.
Slightly less than pounds of fiber are
needed to make a standard raw sugar
bag of 325 pounds capacity. The malva
blanca plant should yield about 1000
! pounds to the acre, and two crops year
are possible.
There has been considerable expert
mentat1on in Venezuela on the making
of malva blanca fiber, but there has
been little commercial application be-
cause OF the competition of tute from
india. Imports now are greatly re-
| s.ricted.
A factory is being erected which will
be ready in April with an annual ca
pacity of 100000 bags.
The new industry, it is estimated, will
employ about 10000 persons in the fields,
| In addition to the mill workers.
Warns of Danger Of Disaster
In Local Places Of Assembly.
To the Editor OF The Star
The tragedy of Saturday night in Bos-
ton precipitates fresh and immediate
duty on the fire department in WASH
ington. 1t required the loss of several