NEW USES FOR WHEAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21365, 19 June 1931, Page 10

NEW USES FOR WHEAT

SOME, DIRECTIONS OF INQUIRY New uses for surplus stocks of wheat and other grains are being sought by the National Research Council of Canada. Experts of the council are making careful study of the possibilities of using surplus grain for the manufacture of fuel, alcohol, starch, glucose, acids and lacquers. While some hope of success is held out the council points out that its inquiries must cover also the economic field, since if a given method of utilising grain for manufacturing purposes was economical only in a season of abnormally low prices that fact obviously would have an important bearing on determining the feasibility of establishing plants based on such a process. The council reports that a beginning has been made on the problem of finding profitable uses for the 50,000,000 tons of straw which Canada produces each year, a by-product of grain and largely wasted. No intimation is given of the line this inquiry is taking, nut at other places it is being tested as raw material for making paper. The 50,000 tons of screenings, largely weed seeds, which accumulate each year at the terminal elevators at Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario, also have come in for attention, and it is stated that “ interesting results ” have been achieved indicating that they can be made to yield oil for soap making, fertilisers, and possibly stock food.