DIVISION VII 

 MICROBIOLOGY OF SPECIAL INDUSTRIES 



CHAPTER I 



SPECIAL INDUSTRIAL FERMENTED PRODUCTS 

 ACETONE AND ACETIC ACID* 



Prior to 1914, most of the world's supply of acetone and acetic 

 acid was furnished by the destructive distillation of wood. When 

 wood is distilled from a retort at high temperatures it undergoes a 

 decomposition by which acetone, acetic acid, methyl acetate, and other 

 compounds are liberated leaving in the retort crude charcoal. The 

 acetic acid is converted into calcium acetate by neutralization with 

 lime. The acetic acid may be liberated by means of inorganic acids 

 and distilled to give acetic acid or may be dried and destructively 

 distilled to form acetone. Acetone is used extensively in explosives 

 manufacture and as a solvent for aeroplane ''dope" and many other 

 organic compounds. It is useful also in the mixing of guncotton and 

 nitroglycerine to form cordite, the explosive used so extensively by the 

 British and other navies. 



Two methods of producing acetone besides wood distillation came 

 into common use during the war. One was the formation of acetone 

 from starchy materials by direct fermentation, the Fernbach process; 

 the other was by the formation of acetic acid by direct bacterial fer- 

 mentation of sea kelp or the alcoholic and acetic fermentation of sugary 

 material, followed by conversion of the acetic acid into acetone. 



The United States Industrial (Jhemical Company at Curtis Bay 

 during the war produced as much as 70,000 pounds of acetic acid per 

 day from molasses imported by tank steamers from Cuba. Over 1000 

 beechwood shaving-filled generators from 10X181018X25 feet in 

 size were necessary. About 200,000 gallons of calcium acetate liquors 



* Prepared by W. V. Cruess. 



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