Utilising By-Products

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 19, 14 May 1908, Page 33

Utilising By-Products

The value of products annually manufactured out. of J materials which thirty years ago were thrown away as waste amounts to fully £100,000,000— a sum equal to nearly seven times the annual production of gold in the United States. Sawdust was for years looked upon asvan absolutely waste material (sayS> ' Moody 's Magazine '), and waseither dumped • into a stream of llowing. waiter or • thrown into a heap "where it could be conveniently disposed of. During the last few years a process' has been discovered which has given sawdust a value greater than that of solid timber. By the use of hydraulic pressure and intense heafc the particles are,, formed into a solid mass capable of being, moulded into any shape and of receiving a brilliant polish. The only materials used are sawdust, alum, and glue. Imitation marble can be manufactured from a~ mixture of sawdust with ivory waste, waterglass, and glue. In Norwiaiy acetic acid, wood naphtha, tar, and", alcohol aa:e produced on> a commercial scale out of sawdust. The principal use of sawdust seems destined to .be in, the production of sugar and of alcohol. It is practically pure cellulose and easily convertible into those products. , • For many years bituminous coal operators threw away slack as waste. Later it sold for 5 cents a ton. To-day it commands at the mine 75 cents a ton. The increase is due to demand coming from makers of cement. Formerly they bought lump coal and pulverized it.

Each large packing establishment now has its long list of by-products. The products of the gray brain matter of calves are employed "in affections of the nervous system, such as nervous debility, nervous exhaustion, St. Vitas' dance, mental disorder, and insanity. The blood of the slaughtered animals is concealed and manufactured into buttons, and 'is also utilised i-n the production of albumen for the use of the calico printer, the sugar refiner, .the tanner, and others. The bones are used for a score of different purposes, being manufactured into knife and toothbrush handles, chessmen, combs, backs of brushes, mouthpieces of pipes, and various other articles. Black hoofs are used in the manufacture of cyanide of potassium for gold extraction, and are also ground up to make fertilizer for florists, grape-growers, and others. Piior to 1860 cotton seed was usually ' hauled to a remote place to rot or dumped into a stream of flowing water. Out of this product, then deemed a nuisance, there was manufactured in 1900 by-products having a value of £8,000,000. More than a score of products are to-day manufactured out of cotton seed, including butter, paper, fertilizer, cotton foattinir, cattle feed, soap, land, cottolenf 1 , crude oils, and .salad oils. The vice-president of the Standard Oil Company 'is authority for the statement that for the last ten years more than one-half the profits of the company have been made out of the manufacture of by-products.