ETHYL ALCOHOL FROM WOOD WASTE. 13 



Patent No. 1032444 the apparatus used in the process. Patent No. 

 1032445 covers the apparatus for mixing the sawdust and liquid 

 acid (acid in a liquid form) as it is being fed to the digester. Patent 

 No. 1032446 covers other apparatus for this purpose that employs 

 acid in a gaseous form, and Patent No. 1032447 covers the process 

 for the same. Patent No. 1032448 is a continuation of No. 938308. 

 Patents Nos. 1032449 and 1032450 cover the apparatus and process 

 whereby the acid liquor is introduced after the charge has first been 

 steamed, and whereby, it is claimed, a more thorough mixing and 

 greater yields are obtained. This idea of introducing the acid after 

 the steaming is one of the features of Cohoe's earlier patents. 



Recently another series of United States patents was taken out by 

 Gallagher and Mork and assigned to the Standard Alcohol Co. 

 Patent No. 1037185 covers the relief of pressure during cooking and 

 claims thereby to eliminate products that inhibit fermentation. 

 Patent No. 1056161 covers the process of cooking at high pressure — ■ 

 at 135 pounds for 15 minutes, then at 70 pounds for 30 minutes — 

 whereby, it is stated, the wood dextrins are converted into dextrose. 

 The claim is made that wood dextrin is converted into dextrose faster 

 than the wood dextrin is produced from lignocellulose under the 

 ordinary conditions of cooking. This is along the same line as the 

 work published three years previously by Neumann, who called the 

 wood dextrins hydrocellulose. Patent No. 1056162 covers the use of 

 waste sulphite liquors as diluting agents for the sulphuric acid used 

 as the hydrolyzing agent. Patent No. 1056163 relates to the use of 

 chlorine either alone or in conjunction with sulphuric acid. The 

 chlorine must be removed before fermentation because of its inhibit- 

 ing action on yeast. Patent No. 1091327 relates to the use of "beer 

 slop," the residue from the beer still, as a material for diluting the 

 acid used as the hydrolyzing agent. Patent No. 1096030 covers the 

 use of sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid, or chloride salts with 

 sulphuric acid, as the hydrolyzing agent. 



As has been mentioned before, the work of Neumann confirmed 

 that of Simonsen, involving sulphuric acid as a catalytic agent; but 

 Neumann's main work was with gaseous hydrochloric acid. Girard 27 

 has shown that hydrocellulose is produced from cellulose by the 

 action of gaseous hydrochloric acid, and Neumann has found that 

 sawdust yields some dextrose in addition to the hydrocellulose. 

 Some of the residue of hydrocellulose and sawdust left after the 

 extraction of the dextrose can be converted further into dextrose. 

 Neumann's yields are comparable to those of Simonsen, although 

 by repeated inversions of the residue Neumann obtains a decided 

 increase of total sugars. The individual inversions of the residue, 

 however, do not yield sufficient sugar or alcohol to be of technical 



27 Annates de Chimie et Physique, 1, 24., 5 ser., 344. 



