HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



are the principal products obtained from coniferous woods, while 

 wood alcohol, acetates and charcoal are derived from the hard- 

 woods. About one hundred plants are now operating in New York, 

 Pennsylvania and the Lake States, on birch, beech and maple, 

 which are received usuallv in the form of cordwood. About thirty 

 plants are operating on softwoods in the southern states, mainly in 

 Florida, Alabama and Georgia, on material which is largely woods 

 ■waste, although some mill waste is included. 



The production of ethyl alcohol from sawdust has claimed con- 

 siderable attention during recent years. Probably many kinds of 

 wood can be used by this process, the limitations as to species, 

 however, not being well known at present. The forms of waste 

 which can be employed are unlimited since the material must be 

 very finely divided before treatment. The sawdust is treated with 

 sulphuric acid under suitable conditions, resulting in the formation 

 of sugar, which is then fermented to produce alcohol. Several 

 commercial plants, some in this country, have been erected to 

 . produce alcohol from wood in this manner. There are certain 

 difficulties related to the maintenance of the equipment under 

 the strong acid used and securing efficient chemical conversions 

 which require further investigation. The firm establishment and 

 growth of this industry is a development much to be desired since 

 it will assist in solving two problems: the utilization of sawdust 

 and the production of another fuel for motors, one of the growing 

 problems of the motor car industry, following increasing cost of 

 the present fuel. Cheap ethyl alcohol is assured of a satisfactory 

 market, while sawdust exists in greater quantities than any other 

 form of mill waste. 



The development of power by the use of wood waste in special 

 gas producer plants operating gas engines is capable of almost 

 unlimited development, since, as the process becomes efficient, the 

 power produced can readily be transmitted considerable distances 

 by electrical engineering methods. Plants are in operation in 

 France and one or two in this country. 



Bark in large quantities is used only in the production of tannin 

 extracts, only hemlock, chestnut oak and tanbark oak containing 

 sufficient tannin to warrant extraction under present methods. Pos- 

 sibly the production of fiber board will utilize the bark of other 

 trees eventually. 



The leaves of trees have seldom been utilized. In Australia and 

 €ven in California the leaves and twigs of some of the eucalypts 

 are distilled by very simple and inexpensive apparatus, with the 

 recovery of some very valuable and marketable oils. The essential 

 oils in the leaves of American trees have been very little investi- 

 gated, yet there is little doubt that some of these products would 

 prove of value. The leaves of longleaf pine have been exploited 

 for a number of specific purposes at different times, such as the 

 production of paper pulps and textile fiber substitutes, but without 

 lasting results, I believe. 



Chemical methods of waste utilization, which generally involve 

 an expensive plant, experts in the industry, a continuous and large 

 supply of material, are not of a character which can be adopted 

 by small mills acting as separate units. Acting in groups the 

 transportation of material presents increasing difficulties. These 

 methods are most applicable to large plants, operating on certain 

 woods, with available timber for fifteen years or more. Con- 

 siderable capital is required and the employment of experts is, of 

 course, essential. This development, therefore, will probably be 

 slow and perhaps more likely to come about through the activities 

 of the experts in these other industries in their search for raw 

 material than otherwise. 



The ideal utilization plant would consist of a number of indus- 

 tries assembled under one organization, and in sufficient variety 

 so that the timber in question could be converted into precisely 

 those products for which each part of it is best suited and which 

 would bring the best return, under the market conditions pre- 

 vailing at any time. 



It is conceivable that a plant of this kind in a favored situation 

 in the longleaf pine belt may eventually turpentine the standing 

 timber, recover turpentine from parts of the mill waste and the 



light-wood of the forests use part of this and other waste in the 

 production of paper, manufacture lumber from the best parts of 

 the tree, and convert the remaining parts into varied manufactured 

 products according to the market. A wood-preserving plant as a 

 I)art of this equipment should lead to the profitable marketing of 

 ties, poles, piling, and paving blocks. 



Summarizing, it is clearly apparent that the lumber industry 

 needs profitable methods of waste utilization, and there are a 

 number of methods which have actually been applied to a limited 

 extent, some of which are being employed to a greater extent 

 each year; that a number of methods while offering much of 

 promise hold many problems requiring solution before they can be 

 considered as meeting present conditions. Private capital is doing 

 much along several lines in the actual testing out of methods. 



The branch of products of the Forest Service is conducting 

 investigations to find methods to prevent waste, to utilize waste, 

 and to increase the service of timber. This work, which includes 

 many studies of interest to lumbermen, is conducted by the Forest 

 Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., and along different lines 

 but in a less comprehensive way by the Office of Wood Utilization 

 in Washington. The Office of Wood Utilization is now completing 

 a statistical investigation of the wood-using industries of the 

 United States. The results of this work should be of considerable 

 interest to the lumber trade, since there will be available (1) the 

 first authentic statement of the amount of each kind of lumber 

 used by each industry, and (2) the principal uses made of each 

 species in all parts of the country. It will thus become possible 

 to trace lumber into its various channels of use and to measure 

 the competition of different kinds of wood for certain purposes 

 in each state. It is planned to make this information available 

 for use in two series of publications; one concerning each of the 

 important woods, which will show clearly where it grows, where 

 it is milled, where and by what industries it is consumed and its 

 exact use in all parts of the country. The other series of publica- 

 tions will give similar information from the standpoint of each 

 of the different industries, discussing the woods which are of par- 

 ticular value to each of them. Reports of this character are now 

 available for nearly every important wood-consuming state. 



Information concerning the classes of raw material required by 

 the wood-working industries is being assembled in order that 

 suggestions looking to the use by one industry of the waste of 

 another may be brought out. Data showing the classes, quantities, 

 and forms of waste in each of the different industries is being 

 compiled. One of the greatest obstacles to the use of waste ma- 

 terial in the industries through further manufacture lies in the 

 absence of machines which will economically handle wood in the 

 peculiar form in which it occurs as waste material. Few machines, 

 no matter how small the articles manufactured, have been designed 

 with the idea of using waste wood. It is the intention to assemble 

 data showing what opportunities exist for machines of this char- 

 acter and after a close study of the present available machinery to 

 place the information before machine manufacturers in order that 

 they may design new equipment to meet this new point of view. 



Inquiries are being received in increasing numbers from manu- 

 facturers who wish to use or dispose of various kinds of raw 

 material. This shows plainly that much more attention is being 

 given to this matter in recent years than ever before. Tests are 

 being arranged in co-operation with the manufacturers of wooden 

 articles in order that the value of certain untried woods may be 

 proved out under new uses commercially, thus establishing a better 

 market for the wood and opening up new sources of raw material 

 for manufacture. The Office of Wood Utilization is also engaged 

 in an endeavor to assist in a more complete use of the large quan- 

 tities of chestnut timber which are being killed by the bark 

 disease. This disease is steadily advancing into the unaffected 

 chestnut region and it is by no means certain that it will not 

 eventually cover the entire chestnut belt. Since the trees remain 

 merchantable only a few years after their death from this disease, 

 the problem of securing the prompt marketing of the material 

 is pressing in the states north of Virginia, and a great deal of 



