A Decennial Record 



67 



The Chemical Utilization of Wood 



From the standpoint of utilizing waste, this is an important field 

 calling for further development in our knowledge of the chemistry of 

 wood and the application of that knowledge to the chemical and by- 

 products industries. The laboratory has had a small force of specially 

 trained men engaged in studying the processes by which some of the 

 more important chemical products, including ethyl alcohol, methyl 

 alcohol, acetic acid, tannin, etc., are derived from wood. It has not 

 been able to ad^-ance far in a fundamental study of the chemistry of 

 wood cellulose or to investigate in a comprehensive way many other 

 problems which hold out promise of utilizing present waste. 



It has been stated that in the waste resulting from the lumbering 

 and milling of southern pine there are values in chemical products 

 greater than the value of the lumber manufactured. The problem is 

 to work out practical processes for reclaiming these values. One of 

 these products, for example, is grain or ethyl alcohol. The laboratory 

 has done considerable work in developing efficient processes for con- 

 verting sawdust and wood waste into ethyl alcohol and the process is 

 now on a commercial basis. This alcohol is of high purity. It is an 

 efficient fuel for gas engines and finds wide use tlu'oughout the chemi- 

 cal and pharmaceutical industries. To extend the use of the process 

 further, intensive and exhaustive investigations to secure greater effi- 

 ciency and lower production costs are desirable. 



Another example of how new uses for wood waste may be discov- 

 ered through research is the recent development by the laboratory of 

 a stock food prepared from M'hite pine sawdust. Results from the 

 preliminary feeding of this material by the University of Wisconsin 

 indicate that a carbohydrate food from sawdust of many coniferous 

 species may be made and that it has a value equivalent to one-half 

 that of barley and similar stock foods. Conservative estimates indicate 

 that it can be produced under present conditions at a])proximately 

 J^T.OO per ton. 



Another striking and important field em])races the problem of 

 providing a future supply of w^ood alcohol obtained primarily by 

 destructive distillation of hardwood. Many of the basic industries are 

 dependent upon wood alcohol, and no other means of producing this 



