68 BULLETIN 983, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



very low. A large quantity of bark would mean running a large 

 volume of inert material through the alcohol plant at considerable 

 expense and without return. Moreover, the use of most barks would 

 add large quantities of tannin to the solutions to be fermented, and 

 this also is undesirable. 



If all waste is disposed of for this purpose, a sawmill could not only 

 net the price of 40 cents a cord mentioned above, but it could also 

 avoid the cost of burning the waste, which, as given before, ranges 

 from 30 to 66 cents a cord. To the sawmill this would mean a net 

 gain practically double the figure at which the waste is sold. 



The successful production of ethyl alcohol from sawdust seems to 

 depend upon the proper design, equipment, and management of the 

 plant, rather than upon the improvement of the chemical or f erment- 

 ological features of the process. The problem involves the quick 

 and efficient handling of large volumes of low-grade material under 

 unusual technical conditions, the perfecting of the necessary acid- 

 resisting pieces of apparatus, a study of the experience of the plants 

 that have been built and operated, and the efficient utilization of 

 material whose mere removal is now an expense. This industry 

 unquestionably is worthy the serious study of experimental and 

 practical investigators of the utilization of forest products. 



