12 BULLETIN 983, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



est in the light of more recent work of the Forest Products Labora- 

 tory. 



1. In view of the fact that the reducing sugars produced by this reaction do not all 

 ferment and also by the fact that the total amount of conversion was not by any means 

 represented by reducing sugar, it occurred to the author that the presence of the 

 hydrolyzing agent during the heating stage might exert a harmful effect upon the 

 final result. To overcome this the digester was filled and heated to the reacting tem- 

 peratures and then the reacting agent was introduced. This method is the one 

 finally adopted. 



2. Given proper preparation of the materials by the preheating and a proper adjust- 

 ment of phases in the digester, all the time necessary for a successful reaction is that 

 required by a proper mixing of materials. In other words, with proper preparation 

 the reaction itself is practically instantaneous. 



3. Throughout all runs the observation made of results on the laboratory scale with 

 regard to the fact that this reaction runs to an equilibrium was confirmed. It has been 

 found by repeated experiment that by a proper adjustment of the phases the con- 

 centration at which the equilibrium occurs may be varied. 



The yields given in Cohoe's paper, however, do not bear out the 

 claims in his patents, for the paper reports a maximum of 20 per 

 cent of sugars, and the patents claim 25 to 29 per cent of sugars. 



After the Georgetown plant was disposed of to the Du Pont Co., 

 the Standard Alcohol Co. underwent a reorganization, some foreign 

 capital was introduced, and a plant designed to produce 5,000 gal- 

 lons of 188-proof alcohol a day was erected at Fullerton, La. This 

 plant was never operated successfully by the Standard Alcohol Co. 

 because of certain internal financial difficulties caused by the War. 

 Since the introduction of additional foreign capital was out of the 

 question, new American interests acquired a lease of the plant to 

 demonstrate to their own satisfaction the commercial feasibility of 

 the process. These interests, under the name of the Standard Lessee 

 Corporation, operated the plant from July, 1916, until June, 1917. 

 They then purchased the plant and patents under the name of the 

 International Alcohol Corporation. The plant has been operated 

 successfully since the latter part of 1916 up to tbe present time 

 (December, 1918). 



The most recent series of patents by Tomlinson, assigned to the 

 Standard Alcohol Co. (United States Patents Nos. 1032440 to 1032450, 

 inclusive) cover the forms of digester, the various processes for feeding 

 the material to the digester, the methods' of mixing the acid and 

 wood, and the processes of digestion. The chief points of these 

 patents may be summed up as follows: Patents Nos. 1032441 and 

 1032442 cover the thorough mixture of the sawdust and dilute acid 

 as they are being fed to the digesters. Patent No. 1032440 is a 

 process patent relating to the method by which the acid liquid is 

 introduced into the digester with the steam after the temperature 

 has been brought to 212° F. but before it has reached 235° F. Patent 

 No. 1032443 covers the recovery of turpentine as well as sugar, and 



