40 



PREPARATION OF ETHYL ALCOHOL FROM SAWDUST. 



Another product which may be prepared by the chemical treatment 

 of wood, preferably sawdust, is ethyl alcohol, which is made by treat- 

 ing the wood with sulphurous acid, thus partly converting it into fer- 

 mentable sugar, neutralizing, and fermenting with yeasts. 



The alcohol produced is very similar to that produced by hydroliz- 

 ing starch with acids and is in every way suitable for industrial pur- 

 poses. A yield of 25 gallons of industrial alcohol per long ton of saw- 

 dust is claimed for this process. 



Numerous attempts have been made to obtain sugar or alcohol from 

 wood by treating it with hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, but the yields 

 have not been large enough to make the process commercially 

 successful. 



PRODUCTION OF ACETIC ACID AND ACETATES BY FUSION WITH 



ALKALIES. 



As the market for methyl alcohol may be seriously affected, at least 

 temporarily, by the use of tax-free denatured ethyl alcohol in those 

 industries heretofore using methyl alcohol, any method for increasing 

 the yields of the other products of distillation is not without interest 

 at this time. In addition to the ordinary destructive distillation 

 process, acetic acid may be obtained from wood by submitting it to 

 alkaline or acid hydrolysis, or by oxidizing with acids or alkalies. 

 The hydrolytic process and oxidation with sulphuric acid do not 

 give larger, if as large yields, as destructive distillation. Oxidation 

 with dilute nitric acid yields from 10 to 18 per cent of acid, while the 

 maximum yields are obtained by treating with the alkaline hydrates 

 at 200 to 300 C., the yield being from 30 to 40 per cent of the weight 

 of the w*ood together with a considerable quantity of oxalic acid. 

 The chief factors governing the yield are the ratio of alkalies to saw- 

 dust, the kind of alkali used, the time of heating, and atmospheric 

 oxidation. The highest yields are obtained when three parts of 

 potassium hydrate are used to one part of sawdust and the mixture 

 is heated for a long time with or without exposure to air. 



The procedure is almost identical with that used in the manufacture 

 of oxalic acid; and, as would be expected, oxalic acid is also obtained 

 in considerable quantity, depending on the temperature at which the 

 operation is conducted. No application of this process in this country 

 is known to the writer, although it is patented and used in the produc- 

 tion of acetates from soda-pulp liquors both in England and Germany. 



[Cir. 36] 



