The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1913. ALCOHOL AS A FUEL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4, 9 May 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1913. ALCOHOL AS A FUEL.

\ recent number of the “Autocar”

contains an interesting and comprehensive article by J)r. \V. R. Ormandy on motor fuels, in which lie discusses the possibility of using cheap alcohol as a substitute for petrol. The advantage of the latter fuel lies in the tact that it can be obtained in inexhaustible quantities from vegetable sources. Its suitability for motor cars was practically demonstrated over twenty years ago, although its economical use demands a rather higher compression of the explosive mixture than is obtained in engines designed to run on petrol. Still a simple mixture of alcohol and benzol, in proportion of three or four parts to one suits the ordinary petrol engine very well. Therefore, if the severe restrictions imposed by the Bri-* lish Government on the manufacture | and importation of alcohol, even for; 1 industrial purposes, were removed, ■ there would seem to be no impediment to its substitution as a motor fuel. In referring to the print* as compared with that of. petrol Dr. Ormanhy states that in Germany the price of alcohol produced from potatoes is from Is I Id to Is ild per gallon. Moreover! this industry is specially fostered by the German Government, and similar I prices in England would not eiieour-

ago the industry there, for a ton of potatoes yield only twenty-two gallons of .alcohol, the raw material there-

fore, costing at ruling prices more than a ■shilling for every gallon distributed. A ton of maize contains three times as much starch as a ton of potatoes, and can he grown (it is affirmed) in many parts of the world at 20s to 25s per ton ; whilst in Scandinavia. and on the Pacific coast of North America wood refuse—sawdust and waste liquors from woodpuip

factories—is already being distilled on a. commercial scale. The way to obtain alcohol at the lowest cost is obviously to distil it where the raw material—be it maize or wood—is

grown and. to import the spirit in tank steamers, and Dr. Ormanby says that the cost ot production at distilleries favourably situated may lie as low as' -Id a gallon. Such a figure would appear to make alcohol a possible competitor with pctrpl, provided that the difficulties associated with the protection of the revenue could be gob rid of.