June 12, 1919] 



NATURE 



28 = 



But, considering- what war is essentially and 

 .how it must be fought, whatever be the men- 

 tality of the combatants, there is a certain element 

 of comedy in setting up an organisation during 

 the actual course of a war in order to ascertain, 

 not how the waste of war may be minimised, but 

 how the waste of peace-time operations may be 

 reduced or possibly altogether obviated. It is 

 doubtful if any other nation than ourselves would 

 have thought of such a consideration at such a 

 juncture. But the Munitions Inventions Depart- 

 ment, on the principle presumably of compound- 

 ing for sins they were inclined to, created in 1918 

 a small Committee, under the chairmanship of the 

 principal of the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, 

 to make inquiries concerning chemical waste pro- 

 ducts throughout the country, and to carry out 

 investigations with a view to their utilisation. 

 That waste should be obviated is a sound general 

 proposition applicable at all seasons, but why the 

 particular instances of it which engaged the Com- 

 mittee's attention should be specially urgent in 

 1918 is not very obvious, as they were wholly 

 without bearing on the conduct of the war, and 

 were of small importance from the point of view 

 of economy, even in peace-time. 



The Committee, however, has now reported,^ 

 and we may best learn from its own statements 

 what it has accomplished, and what useful results 

 are likely to follow from its labours. In the first 

 place, the Committee communicated with the 

 Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, 

 inviting assistance in collecting information 

 concerning chemical waste products, and later 

 it sent out a circular letter to chemical 

 manufacturers asking if they made any waste 

 products not at present utilised, and, if so, what 

 was their nature and quantity. Of those who 

 replied, rather less than half stated that they 

 had no waste products; 220 manufacturers said 

 they had waste products, and indicated their 

 character. The Committee gives a list of those 

 broug-ht to its notice — some sixty-eight in 

 number. With one or two exceptions, they arise 

 in old-established industries, and are in no wise 

 connected with the war. 



In its circular letter the Committee stated that 

 one of its objects was to save overseas tonnage. 

 It is difficult to see how the consideration of the 

 special instances brought to the knowledge of the 

 Committee would even appreciably influence the 

 tonnage question. Perhaps the subject of waste 

 materials for paper-making- is the best example 

 that could be quoted, considering the admitted 

 shortage of such materials during the later 

 periods of the war. The Committee accordingly 

 directed its attention to two unutilised products, 

 viz. spent mimosa bark — a residue from the tan- 

 ning industry — and the waste wood due to the 

 felling" of timber trees in this country. With the 

 assistance of Prof. Huebner, of the Manchester 

 Technical College, the Committee is able to report 



1 Munitions Inventions Department. Report on the Investigations 

 f carried out by the Chemical Waste Products Committee. 



NO. 2589, VOL. 103] 



that it is possible to make brown paper from 

 waste mimosa bark, as, indeed, might have been 

 anticipated, and this fact was communicated to 

 the tanners using the bark, as well as to the 

 paper manufacturers, but it does not appear that 

 any practical result has followed. Nor did any- 

 thing practical follow from the investigation into 

 the possible use of scrap timber. 



It was scarcely necessary to make an experi- 

 mental investigation in order to arrive at the 

 decision to which the Committee came. Inquiry 

 from the trade showed that the cost of the neces- 

 sary plant, combined with fuel conditions and un- 

 certainty as to the duration of the war, rendered 

 it inexpedient to recommend any extension of the 

 existing means in this country of using- wood pulp 

 in the manufacture of paper — a conclusion which 

 might have been foreseen without the formality 

 of a special Committee. At the same time, the 

 Committee states it is in a position to supply 

 information as to shredding plant, and will com- 

 municate to those who may be interested the 

 results of Prof. Huebner 's investigations into the 

 best conditions both for boiling soft waste wood 

 from pine, birch, and oak, and for treatment with 

 caustic soda. 



The Committee further reported on the re- 

 covery of the chemicals used in discarded gas 

 helmets; on the utilisation of the maize residues 

 in the manufacture of butyl alcohol, which were 

 found to be unsuitable for cattle food, but could 

 be used as a fertiliser; on the possible use of 

 sphagnum moss as a cattle food — an inquirv 

 eventually handed over to the Food Production 

 Department; and on the utilisation of waste 

 chrome-tanned leather, dealt with by Mr. Lamb, 

 of the Leather Sellers' Technical Institute, who 

 devised a process for converting- it into glue. 



The de-arsenication of oil of vitriol made from 

 pyrites results in the accumulation of consider- 

 able quantities of arsenic sulphide in a form 

 troublesome to deal with. The Committee caused 

 experiments to be made as to the best method of 

 treating this product with a view to the recovery 

 of arsenic from it, and with outside assistance 

 worked out a process which it supplied to those 

 chemical manufacturers who asked for informa- 

 tion concerning it. It is not stated whether the 

 process has found application in chemical in- 

 dustry. 



In the treatment of bauxite for the manufac- 

 ture of aluminium a large amount of ferric oxide 

 is left, for which only a limited use has been 

 found. Its application to the purification of coal- 

 gas naturally suggests itself, and a number of 

 patents for this purpose have been granted, but 

 with no very satisfactory result. 



The Cornmittee has taken up the problem, but 

 is not yet in a position to report concerning it. 



The use of burnt pyrites in the manufacture 

 of oil of vitriol also suggested itself to the Com- 

 mittee as a possible gas-purification material, but, 

 as might be anticipated, few samples were found 

 to present the proper physical condition for em- 



