INKS AND INK POWDERS. Imports and exports of dextrine for Great Britain.. Imports and exports of dextrine for France... Imports and exports of dextrine, burnt starch, and paste (Germany). 1 Production is for calendar years except for 1918 and 1919, which are fiscal years, taken from annual reports of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 2 Gallons converted on basis of 7 pounds per gallon. GENERAL INFORMATION. Paragraph 33, "Fusel oil, or amylic alcohol, cent per pound.' Description. Fusel oil is known under the following names: Fermentation amyl alcohol, potato oil, grain oil, marc brandy oil, fuselol (German), and huile de pomme de terre (French). Commercial fusel oil consists of two isomeric forms of amyl alcohol. The one is optically inactive while the other form rotates the plane of polarized light to the left. The latter form is usually present in fusel oil in sufficient quantities to render it laevorotatory when tested with the polariscope. Fusel oil contains varying amounts of other homologous alcohols, traces of acids, and considerable water. The value of fusel oil depends chiefly on its content of amyl alcohol. The composition of fusel oil depends on the materials fermented, the nature and length of the fermentation, and the method of distillation. There are two grades of fusel oil which are of commercial importance, a crude grade and a refined or rectified grade. The crude product is a light amber to straw-yellow colored liquid, usually clear, and having a persistent disagreeable odor. This crude grade is refined by distillation in an ordinary copper still. The refined grade is colorless, or nearly so, and practically free from water. Uses. The chief use of fusel oil is in the manufacture of amyl acetate, which is largely used as a solvent in the nitrocellulose industry. (See Survey on "Ethers and esters.") One of the largest firms of amyl acetate manufacturers estimates that of the crude fusel oil imported not over 15 per cent is rectified, the balance (85 per cent) being converted into amyl acetate. Other important uses of fusel oil are as a solvent for resins in spirit varnishes, pyroxylin lacquers, and as a cellulose nitrate solvent in conjunction with camphor. Fusel oil is used in minor quantities in the extraction of alkaloidsand in the preparation of fruit ethers. Domestic production. The annual report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the year ending June 30, 1918, shows that 119,590 gallons (about 7 pounds to the gallon) of fusel oil was removed from distilleries. Louisiana and Maryland produced two-thirds of the total. This is the only available figure on the domestic production of fusel oil. Fusel oil is obtained as a by-product of fermentation processes. The chief sources are the production of distilled liquors (whisky, brandy, and rum) and of alcohol or cologne spirits. Apart from the desirability of removing the excess of fusel oil from spirits intended as beverages, the oil is removed for the salable value which it possesses. It is obtained, chiefly, in the alcoholic distillate coming over between 105° and 137° C. The production of fusel oil in this country supplies only a small portion of the domestic consumption. The production in 1918 of about 830,000 pounds was about one-half of the quantity imported in that year, which was only about one-third of the normal prewar imports. The industries using fusel oil must rely to a large extent on foreign countries. Imports. The imports of fusel oil from 1910 to 1914, inclusive, averaged about 5,300,000 pounds per year. During these years 75 per cent of the total originated in Russia, United Kingdom, and Germany, with the quantity nearly equal from each country. Since 1914 the import has declined to a minimum in 1917 and 1918 of about 1,600,000 pounds. The decline is accounted for by the cessation of imports from Russia and Germany. In 1919 Canada, which had supplied only a small quantity in the past, furnished over 50 per cent of the total. Tariff history.-Fusel oil was dutiable at 10 per cent ad valorem during the period covered by the acts of 1883, 1890, and 1894. The act of 1897 levied a duty of one-fourth cent per pound on fusel oil. This duty has been specified in the succeeding acts. The change in duty from 10 per cent ad valorem to a specific duty of one-fourth cent per pound amounted to a reduction of 8 per cent ad valorem, as the equivalent ad valorem since 1910 has been equal to less than 2 per cent. The revenue derived from the duty on fusel oil has varied from about $4,000 to $14,000 per annum since 1910. There are no special tariff problems connected with fusel oil. 1 Worden, E. C.: The Nitrocellulose Industry, 1911. |