SILK FROM THE AIR.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 346, 10 July 1930, Page 7

SILK FROM THE AIR.

Illimitable supplies of cellulose — the raw material of paper, artificial silk, explosives, and other substances —will before long be obtained from the air by synthetic methods instead of from the forests of the world. This striking prediction was made by Dr Herbert Levinstein, president of the Society of Chemical Industry, m an address to members of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in London.

Research has shown, said Dr Levinstein, that sugar and cellulose came from the same fundamental chemical “ bricks ” or units, and as sugar had Already been prepared synthetically from the carbon dioxide existing in a small amount in the atmosphere and the water vapour everywhere present, it was not unreasonable to expect that before long the paper for our newspapers and many other products of cellulose might be similarly obtained. The percentage of carbotT dioxide in the air was certainly small, but having regard to the billions of tons of air available, and to the fact that the proportions of carbon dioxide and water vapour were being continually renewed through the normal operation ox natural processes, it \vas possible to envisage the ail - around us as a reservoir of “ wood pulp ” for newsprint and all other paper requirements, much more inexhaustible than the Norwegian and Canadian forests, which were at present being consumed at such an alarming rate.