Untitled

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 40, 16 January 1945, Page 5

Plastics and Rayon from Sawdust From as little as 10 per cent af. the readily-available sawdust waste in the United a new chemical process could obtain enough plastics for the plastic parts of 4,000 5 000 automobiles 1,250,000 telephone sets and plastic doors knobs it was disclosed at the re-

cent New York meeting of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Donald F. Othmer head of the department of chemical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, also estimated that the. process yields enough acetic acid to make, bycombination with cellulose, enough rayon for 130,000,000 pairs of women's stockings. Another by-pro-duct from this same 10 per cent, would be industrial alcohol. By a continuous method of chemically adding water to wood the researchers obtained from one ton of sawdust more than 10001b. of high-grade ingredient for plasties, as well as by-products including 1201b. of acetic acid and 601b. of furfural, a liquid used in making dyes, and 5001b. of sugar, which could make hurt- j cfreds of pounds of alcohol. I