SUGAR FROM WOOD

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 November 1934, Page 14

SUGAR FROM WOOD

HIGH HOPES IN GERMANY. Rapid strides are now being made in Germany with processes for extracting sugar from wood, says the “Christian Science Monitor.” Germany has one great natural wealth—her forests, which have been cultivated and replanted for centuries. But it is estimated that 40,000,000 cubic metres of refuse wood are wasted annually in the form of fuel. Now, through abstract cehmical theory and laboratory experiments, a new industry is growing up in Germany which is designed to make the most of the national wealth and make practical the desires of the supporters of economic autocracy. There are two ways of extracting sugar from wood, both of which have been industrialised in Germany. The one is that of .Dr. Heinrich Scholler, ■who applies diluted sulphuric acid, under pressure, at a temperature of 170 degrees Centigrade. This method is used on a large scale in the chemical -works at Tornesch, near Hamburg, and a solution containing 5 to 6 per cent, of sugar is produced. The second process, elaborated by Dr. Friedrich Bergius, director of the Bergin' Works at Mannheim, applies concentrated hydrochloric acid without pressure at a low<emperature, and obtains a form of solid sugar. On the face of it, this does not seem to be much of a gain for Germany, which is virtually self-supporting in hydro-carbonates, but this woodsugar, as it is called, can be used as a raw product for a number of commodities very urgently needed in Germany. About 65 per cent, of the cellulose of wood is converted into saccharoid substances and 30 per cent, into lignite, which in both types of factories is burned and covers the entire need of fuel.

AVAILABLE AT HOME. It is now possible, according to Dr. Scholler’s process, to extract, without appreciable cost, the tan from the wood of the chestnut or the oak, and it. is claimed that the 47,000 tons of tan (90 per cent, of Germany’s total requirement) which are annually imported into the country can be produced at home as a by-product at a certain stage of the fermentation of the sugar solutions obtained as the first result in Dr. Scholler’s procedure. By fermentation, alcohol is obtained which, it> is planned, will be mixed, at a bigger ratio with motor oils. So far the ratio legally fixed for German motor oils has been 10 per cent., while in several other European countries it is 20 to 25 per cent. A fresh stimulus will thus be given to the popularity, of motoring in Germany, one of Herr Hitler’s pet schemes.

There is yet another side to the new industries which is of even greater importance for the immediate needs ©f the German people. Germany imports every year 300,000,000 marks worth of fodder substances which

contain proteins—particularly soya beans, and meat and fish products. Now experiments have been made to ferment the sugar solutions obtained in the Scholler process with an admixture of compounds of nitrogen. The yeast thus developed contains 50 per cent, more protein which has proved an fodder, according to tests made on the Reich experimental farms. Thus, within a few days highly nourishing fodder for cattle and sheep can be produced independent of the season and the weather. In this way, Germany would ultimately be in a position to supply her home market with wool and hides, commodities which in the present situation cause grave anxiety to supporters of the economic autarchy scheme. Among the outstanding advantages of the chemical exploitation of wood is reckoned the possibility of providing a novel source of income to the extremely poor population of the densely-wooded ranges of Central Germany and Alpine foothills, which would be a welcome outlet to national energy, and in that way have a beneficial effect on the international atmosphere.