PART IT. 
cial production of alcohol from cellulose will depend upon processes 
which combine the cheapness of the dilute acid process with the high 
and almost theoretical yields obtained when strong acids are used. 
Numerous attempts have been made, notably in North America, 
to convert the waste of the lumber industry, sawdust, tops, ete., into 
alcohol, and while the possibilities have been demonstrated under 
laboratory conditions, the success of the industry on a commercial 
scale has not been definitely proved. A ton of dry wood yields, under 
laboratory conditions, 15 to 219 of sugar or 33 gallons of alcohol, but 
in practice the yield is only about one half of this. 
The U.S.A. Forests Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, 
stated (1921) the yield of alcohol from a plant handling 180 tons of 
wood waste daily to be 3,600 gallons at a cost of 25 cents a gallon. 
Their experiments showed that the yields varied according to the type 
of wood from 6.8 to 25.8 gallons per ton. 
The cost of manufacture with other plants operating in the States 
has been stated to vary from 6.4d. to 1/- per gallon. 
If the economical production of aleohol from waste wood by 
existing processes has not been definitely proved in Canada and the 
United States, then it is hardly possible in Kenya where the tonnage 
per acre is very much less. 
STRAW, ETC. : Attempts have also been made to obtain from straw, 
stalks, etc., by acid hydrolysis, yields of alcohol as high as from wood, 
and although processes have been patented no information is available 
of any operations on a commercial scale. 
The ratio of straw to grain in the case of maize and wheat, for 
example, is 1 to 1 and 1.7 to 1 respectively, and if the straw could be 
converted into alcohol the cost per gallon of the raw material from 
these crops would be reduced by one half. The production of maize 
spirit might then become possible. 
PROBABLE PRODUCTION OF COMPETITIVE FUELS. 
The problem of the synthetic production of alcohol and liquid 
hydrocarbons is occupying the attention of Chemists and Engineers, 
and it would not be out of place to consider briefly certain of these 
synthetic products. In the majority of the processes carbonaceous 
matter is converted into liquid hydrocarbons with the aid of hydrogen 
gas, and it is possible that before long catalytic hydrogenation will 
have solved the liquid fuel problem. 
Coal is the carbonaceous matter at present used for the production 
of these fuels and as the world’s reserves are estimated by authorities 
to be 3,000 years cheap production would prove a menace to the use 
of agricultural alcohol for power purposes. 
BERGINTSATION OF COAL—MOTALIN. 
The conversion of coal into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons is 
the outcome of developments in the original process of Dr. Bergius. 
A conversion of as much as 859 of the coal by weight equivalent to 
a minimum of 140 gallons of liquid fuel per ton can be obtained by 
hydrogenation at increased temperature and pressure, and the 
liquid obtained is marketed as a motor spirit under the name of 
“« Motalin.”’ 
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