UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
JfiiJNk BULLETIN No. 983 
•vli A^^ivi 1 ' Contribution from the Forest Service 
?%|^§^i#f WILLIAM B. GREELEY, Forester 
Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin 
In cooperation with the University of Wisconsin 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
April 6, 1922 
THE MANUFACTURE OF ETHYL ALCOHOL FROM 
WOOD WASTE. 1 
By F. W. Kressmann, formerly chemist in Forest Products. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Sources of ethyl alcohol and comparative costs 
of production 1 
Amount of wood waste available 3 
The present value of wood waste 4 
Limitations to the utilization of wood waste . . 5 
Processes for the manufacture of alcohol from 
wood 6 
History of the processes 7 
Outline of investigations 15 
Apparatus and procedure 16 
Methods of analysis 17 
Page. 
Yeasting and fermentation 19 
Results 27 
Effect of catalyzers other than sulphuric acid or 
in addition thereto 53 
Study of different species 56 
Source of fermentable sugar 59 
By-products 61 
Analysis of results 62 
Plant equipment and operation 63 
Costs 67 
SOURCES OF ETHYL ALCOHOL AND COMPARATIVE COSTS OF 
PRODUCTION. 
The production of fermentable sugars and ethyl alcohol from 
cellulosic materials, such as straw, linen, cotton, peat, wood, and 
in fact, all plant fibers, has engaged the attention of chemists and 
technologists for nearly a century. It is only within the last two 
decades, however, that serious attempts have been made to utilize 
wood waste for this purpose. The principal sources of fermentable 
sugars from which alcohol is at present derived are the hydrolytic 
products of starch and the sugars obtained from fruits and such 
sugar-factory residues as molasses. 
Corn yields about 2.4 gallons of 188-proof spirit a bushel; and, 
although the price of corn and other grains used varies with the 
1 The author acknowledges with pleasure his indebtedness to Messrs. Homer Cloukey and H.N. Calder- 
wood, of the Forest Products Laboratory, whose aid in making the hundreds of analyses necessary to the 
research was invaluable. Acknowledgment is made also to Drs. S. F. Acree and E. C. Sherrard for helpful 
criticism and review. For help rendered by men from outside the Forest Service, the author acknowl- 
edges his obligations to Messrs. Boyt and Groves, of Georgetown, S. C, to Dr. R. C. Gravenburg, distillery 
superintendent, at Fullerton, La., and to Dr. T. B. Wagner, of New York. Many others have assisted in 
the production of this work, and to all of them the author is grateful. 
54976°— 21— Bull. 983 1 
