Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1892 — Molasses Used as Fuel. [ARTICLE]

Molasses Used as Fuel.

A calculation has been made of the comparative results, from an economical point of view, of the substitution of molasses for coal as a fuel, which has now for some time.been practiced in certain parts of the South. According to this the lowest grades of vacuum pan of molasses contain from 20 to 25 per cent, of sugar, which cannot be extracted by existing machinery, and, estimating a barrel of such molasses to be worth net 50 cents or sl, and that a barrel holds 550 pounds of molasses, the molasses would thus be worth one or two cents a gallon, and from one eleventh to one-fifth of a cent per pound. Now, Pittsburg coal brought to the sugarhouse furnace has for ten years cost one-fifth of a cent/per pound. Molasses burns with a high heat in combination With wood or wood fiber, so that by sprinkling it on the bagasse —the dry stalks of the sugar-cane after the saccharine juice has been pressed from it—an excellent fuel of great power Is obtained. It would appear from these simple data, and estimating that only one-half the quantity of molasses produced is used for fuel, a substitute is furnished for 75,000 to 100,000 tons of coal.