Molasses From Wood And Wood Paste

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15118, 29 October 1949, Page 5

Molasses From Wood And Wood Paste

Long-range Programme In United States Easier Production Being Sought A long-range programme of production and experiments has been launched in the United States as a result of encouraging preliminary findings in' making molasses from wood and wood waste. Scientists at the United States Forest Products laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin, are now seeking cheaper and more effective ways of producing wood molasses in greater Quantity. Mr F. A. Strenge of the laboratory staff, writing in the American farm journal, Capper’s Weekly, reports

that wood sugar molasses has been used extensively in feeding tests witli beef and dairy cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry, and is a preservative for grass silage.

Development of alcohol from wood waste during the war was the basis fo 1 ’ + he ’wirk on mollasses. Mr Strenge says that wood from all parts of the United States can be used for production of molasses. Sawdust and other wood waste also can be used. “Wood sugar is made in an acidproof tank called a digester. Chipped wood is loaded into the digester and heated with steam,” he reports. “Through the warmed wood, a weak solution of sulphuric acid is then trickled. This transforms the wood cellulose into sugars that it holds in solution. These dissolved sugars are drained from the digester. Since the sugar solution is acid, lime is used to neutralise it. Then it is boiled to remove most of the water. War-surplus sea-water evaporators are used for most of this boiling at the Forest Products Laboratory. “The final stage of boiling must be done under vacuum, which permits boiling at low temperatures, about 150 degrees F., instead of the customary 212 degrees F. This prevents decomposition of the sugars by excessive heating. When the solution contains about half water by weight, it is the consistency of molasses.” The United States has a .largo source of wood for this purpose in cut-over forest land, including 130,000,000 acres of farm woodlands which must regularly be thinned to produce better timber. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a Government agency will build a pilot plant to produce molasses from wood sugar to determine if small plant production is feasible. While commercial production is admittedly a long way off, Mr Strenge says that the type of equipment needed for producing molasses is currently used in many small rural factories.