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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
recommendations concerning the location of pulp mills in the vicinity of oyster 
grounds. 
A laboratory was established on Oyster Bay, near Olympia, Wash., and 
equipped with running seawater. 2 At this place the water was probably not con- 
taminated with the waste liquor to any great extent, for Oyster Bay is a considerable 
distance from Oakland Bay. 
SULPHITE WASTE LIQUOR 
Although in certain cases sulphite pulp mills have established plants for the 
recovery of chemicals and the manufacture of by-products from the waste liquor, 
this is the exception rather than the rule in the United States. Mills are most often 
located on fresh-water streams into which all waste matter is dumped after little or 
no treatment to prevent possible damage to aquatic life. This method of disposal 
is generally inadequate because of the great amounts of waste matter produced. 
In the manufacture of pulp by the sulphite process the chips of wood are cooked 
under pressure in a solution consisting primarily of calcium bisulphite with an excess 
of sulphurous acid. Something over half of the constituents of the wood go into 
solution to form the waste liquor while the fiber remains. The liquor contains, in 
addition to the substances in the original cooking solution, though changed some- 
what in the process, nearly all of the noncellulose constituents of the wood. The 
specific gravity of the liquor from the digester at the end of the cooking process is 
about 1.05, and may vary from 1.045 to 1.055. It is a dark reddish-brown liquid, 
rather syrupy in consistency. 
The general nature of the liquor is shown by the following results of an analysis 
of a sample of liquor of specific gravity 1.0425 by Bryant, as stated by Sutermeister 
(1929, p. 233): 
Constituents 
Grams per 
liter 
Pounds per 
ton pulp 
Constituents 
Grams per 
liter 
Pounds per 
ton pulp 
Total solids . 
115. 00 
2,999 
Total sulphur 
7.83 
204 
Loss on ignition 
105. 36 
2,748 
251 
Sulphur as SO 3 ___ 
.76 
20 
Ash... 
9.64 
The actual solids in solution amount to more than the pulp produced. The 
most of these substances are organic, and there is no limit to the possible number of 
compounds present. The variety of components is indicated in the figures given 
by Sutermeister (1929, p. 234), after Klason, for the waste liquor remaining from 
production of a ton (2,202 pounds) of dry pulp: 600 kilograms lignin, 200 kilograms 
sulphur dioxide combined with lignin, 90 kilograms CaO combined with lignin sul- 
phonic acid, 325 kilograms carbohydrates, 15 kilograms proteins, and 30 kilograms 
rosin and fat. 
Complete analysis of such a highly complex mixture of organic compounds is 
extremely difficult. While the lignin-containing compounds make up the bulk of 
the solids, other compounds of a complex nature may be present in such minute 
amounts as to be overlooked. Most of the analytical work which has been done 
refers to the question of manufacture of by-products. The sugars and related 
2 The Bureau of Fisheries is indebted to State Senator J. H. Post of Thurston County, Wash., for allowing the use of his culling 
house as a laboratory and for furnishing a Kohler electric plant and various pumps, motors, and other electrical equipment. We 
also wish to express our appreciation to C. R. Maybury, director of the Washington State Department of Fisheries and Game, 
and to C. R. Pollock, supervisor of fisheries of the same department, for furnishing certain laboratory equipment and otherwise 
cooperating in this investigation. 
