THE DET'ERMINATION OF THE DENSITY OF MOLASsES

Last year, 'the Committee of Chemical Control (Proc. SA Sugar Tech. Assn., 1931, 10) recorded that they had discussed the methods in use for determining the density of molasses. and promised the publication of the results of a series of comparative tests using hydro. meter (1: 1 dilution), refractometer and pyknometer methods. These tests have now been carried out and are recorded in what follows. Although this subject has been investigated by many workers it has always been done in countries where mixed canes are crushed, and it was thought that perhaps some uniformity In' results might be found in South African Molasses. South Africa at present mills only Uba cane, and is therefore unique in having an apparently uniform raw material to deal with. In the accompanying table (No. 1.) is given a summary of the figures obtained. All the experimental work was done in duplicate or triplicate, and whilst these results, where experimental conditions were identical, agreed well amongst themselves, beyond this there is no apparent uniformity.