ALCOHOL?
Page 9
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THIS VERY PERTINENT and brief inquiry was made in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR of 4th April; and was supplemented by the further inquiry as to when the Government is going to appoint a' committee to consider the production of home:grown alcohol. The position was summed up in the words " This matter cannot wait; in fact it should be „regarded as one of extreme urgency."
So far as we can see, the only possibleargument against the immediate formation of such a committee is that the results obtained by it would take time to mature. To an extent this is true, but to an extent, also, we -believe a properly constituted committee would begin to obtain results almost immediately. Anyone who has itad Mr. Tweedy's pamphlet published by the Co-operative. Reference Library of Dublin will re.alize how much we, as a nation, have failed to do in this important matter and how much perfectly sound information is available as a basis upon which to get to work immediately. Without delving into very controversial mat-. ters of politics, it may at least be said that there are more ways than one of Using Irish man-power, and that there are immense possibilities in the way of the production of alcohol crops in the Emerald Isle in addition to, and not in substitution for, the production of food supplies. At the present moment alcohol is urgently needed for many purposes, and even a comparatively small increase in the supplies would be welcome. The formation of a committee such as that suggested might fairly be regarded both as a. war measure and as a measure of reconstruction.
Alcohol from Wood Waste.
So far as we are aware, we have never yet in this country turned, to any account the experience gained in Sweden and elsewhere in the matter of producing alcohol from wood pulp. Probably the extent-to which we have made use of our home-grown supplies of wood has not until recently beensuch as to justify any coherent scheme for utilizing the waste products. Now, however, when our forests. have been and are• being laid low by the square mile, there must be a very valuable sour-ca of power largely running to Waste. Reverting to Ireland, there is again the question of utilizing the peat deposits in a somewhat similar manner.
The point, at the moment, is that all our old arguments as -to cost of production of alcohol from homegrown sources are worth little or nothing. We want alcohol whatever it may—cost us, and we ought to set out at once to get it. We have found out in the last year or so -how rapidly and materially we can increase our supplies of potatoes. The same would apply to the production of sugar beet. If ' we set about this problem now, we could, after the war. make ourselves entirely independent of imported motor fuels. We do not say that we should necessarily decide to do so, because under normal oonditions we might import a. considerable proportion of our alcohol from parts of the British Empire, so cir
_ .cumstanced as to make the cheap growth of alcohol crops an exceptionally simplematter.
The la.ct is that we could do it if we liked, and we ought to make ourselves able to do it so as to have .at our disposal an unanswerable argument for any people who might try to exploit us, and may be able to do so so long as we depend upon imports from abroad and cannot replace them by home production if we choose.
As to how we are to use our alcohol when we -have got it, there are many alternatives. One, which apparently recommends itself to those who are studying the same problem in Australia, is to employ alcohol alone as a fuel in engines specially designed to utilize it economically. This will be possible in the sphere of stationary engines such as those used for power plants upon estates and for agricultural services. It would also be possible in the agrimotor, and in sOnir classes of road,;tsa,ctor,Itand there appears to be' no reason why many classes-of marine motor should not be remodelled to use this fuel.
Plain alcohol will not, however, recommend itself for uses in engines which must have & fairly high piston speed and a moderately low conipression. Consequently, on road vehicles generally, it is improbable that alcohol will be used with admixtures. It is possible to use alcohol in ordinary= petrol engines, but the efficiency obtained is very low.
Alcohol and Benzole a Practical Mixture.
The broad solution in this sphere appears to lie in the utilisation of a mixture of alcohol and benzole. Alternatives were recently suggested in TurEN ComMERCIAL MOTOR in an articleten " Petrol Substitutes in France." One possibility is certainly to be found in a mixture of abouti50 per cent, or 60 per cent. alcohol with 25 per cent. or 20 per cent, each of benzole and petrol. Germany has, one believes, gone a good deaf further, and uses 80 per cent. alcohol with 20 per cent. benzole and a little naphthalene.
The mixture known in France as E.H.A. is, in principle,. allied to the South • African, fuels of which Natahte is typical, consisting -essentially of alcohol and ether, with or without the addition of benzole or some other spirit. In the French mixture, the ether only amounts to about 10 per cent. and benzole or an alternative to125 per cent. In Natalite a-higher percentage of ether is employed. There is no difficulty about producing the ether, as this is done in the alcohol distillery from thesame raw materials as the alcohol itself. The ether ensures easy starting from -the cold, and'the practical success of all these mixtures appears to be dependent upon whether a fuel containing any considerable proportion of ether is safe in use and storage. So far as results on the road are concerned, there is no question about the fuel being a practical one. We -can vouch, personally for this, and the evidence of official tests can be produced in support. Even in an engine designed for petrol, an appropriate alcoholether mixture seems to give equal mileage and power. In a specially-designethengine, the results should be notably superior. Neither should the cost of the mixture be appreciably greater than the cost of alcohol alone.
The Imperial View.
Finally, let us look at this whole problem in the Spirit of Imperialists. Great Britain is the centre, but not the whole, of an immense Empire. Our own country is in some respects handicapped as a great alcohol producer. The Empire as a whole is not so handicapped. We could produce alcohol almost immediately, and in large quantities in Africa and in India, and we suggest that, by these means, the demand upon petrol for mechanical transport in the Indian Empire and in the eastern theatres of war could very promptly be relieved. Moreover, the fueL question at a later date will be a world question and not an insular one. If. large parts of the world are made independent of any supply of petrol and benzole then the position of those which are less irwlependent: will be automatically improved by the natural laws of supply andeclemand.
We believe that we are right in saying that the Government should move at once and strongly in the direction. of producing alcohol ,fuel and making it freely available. A strong committee of men who have given this question careful preliminary study should he formed to consider and report upon the best means of accomplishing the objects in view, which, in the main, consist in providing a source of fuel both at, home and within the confines of the British Empire.