Where in the process of taking crushed juice to alcohol production directly would we get molasses?

Dear Editor,

I am dumfounded and have been so for a full 24 hours. I refer to a letter ostensibly from Audreyanna Thomas, the Senior Communications Officer of GuySuCo (SN, August 12), but which was in fact clearly written for what passes these days for senior technocrats of the corporation. The letter was captioned ‘Molasses would be the preferred raw material for ethanol production in Guyana.’

I will not participate further in any exchanges with GuySuCo on this subject, since I am dealing with people who are clearly asleep at the wheel; that is the reason why GuySuCo is in the mess it is in today. But I will from time to time deal with what it is telling the public is their policy of diversification and which to date can only be described as a total disaster.

If molasses is a by-product of sugar production ‒ and I am advocating that we investigate the principle of not manufacturing sugar and taking the crushed juice to fermentation and alcohol production directly ‒ where in this process would we get molasses? What these people are telling me is that they will continue to go through the same expensive process of manufacturing sugar at a cost which is nearly 3 times greater than the average world market price, to get molasses since it is better for distilling!

Editor, words cannot adequately express the foolishness of this submission.

Yours faithfully,

Tony Vieira