The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-08
THE REAL VALUE oF sAwDUsT-
1t Is Being Used for OxaIic Acid and
Other Purposes

There has recently been invented and
manufactured in Montreal 4 machine for
the purpose of extracting the products OF
saw,fllst." saws John L. BittinSer, the
American Consul General Al Montreal In =
report 10 the state Department on the
commercial value of sawdust-
The machine is built for the distillation
Of saywdust and consists of TWO or more
cylinders. arranged one over the other, the
centre Of each cylinder being made To re-
voIye The whole is encaSed In an oven
and subjected to a strong neat, the gases
generated being carried of by three or
more pipes TO separate condensers, making
q division of the products directly from
the machine
1t being Necessary TO expose the sawdust
TO this heat for q certain length Of time,
the discharge is 50 arranged that the
speed can De changed if the fires are not
in proper condition The capacity Of the
machine Is about 900 pOulGS of wet saw
dust per hour: but by hrst drying the saw
dust with the cUTnbuSubIe gases cot which
there Is sufficient involved 70 do the heat
ingj its capacity Is more than doubled
Two TO four horsepower Is required 10
work the machine
In addition TO the gases generated the
following products nave been obtained
from so pounds OF S-.wGuSt. namely =
Char. 100 pounds. acids. }>g pounds, water,
24S ponds. tar, l5Z pounds No record was
kept Of the gases, DuJ q test WAS made or
them for heating and Illuminating They
were found to be superior 10 coal gas. eN-
cept that they were uup-eaStutly puuSeuJ-
This, however, would not have been the
case had the gases undergone 4 purifying
process
This machine was irregular in its action
and Pad 10 be emptied OF the products.
but The inventor has since made a second
machine which Is an Improvement on the
old one. The latter. however. has not Yet
been patented. though arrangements 20
that end are now being perfected
y am informed that, while the acids.
tar, and char were the products sought.
the gases are undoubtedly of commercial
value Little Is being done with the ma
chine at present. owing to lack of capital,
il being estimated that at least $I60.g5J Will
he required 10 put the enterprise or a pay
ing basis
In reply to an enquiry from residents Of
Ohio. Consul Covert, of Lyons, writes:
'SawdUst is not used anywhere in Ly-
Ons- I am informed that some twenty es-
adjustments in Europe make oxalic acid
out OF sa~duSt. There are six in Ger
many. twelve in England. one in France
and one in Belgium The sawduSJ OF some
wood is better than that OF others for this
purpose Yellow and white pine. dried,
contain 81 per cent Of oXahc acid; oak, s.
per cent
There is a large planning mill in North
Carolina where no fuel is used but saw
dust. 1t is first dampeued and then
thrown into the furnace.
'Ther- must be places in the United
States where sawduSt has a commercial
value. As far as 7 have been able TO learn
the supply is equal TO the demand in Eu-
rope
Consul Fleming. Of Edinburgh. trans
mits the following
SaWdust is used In Scotland 10 some
extent in making floor cloth and linoleUm
certain kinds of heavy stamped or en-
bossed material To be used Instead Of wall
paper. coarse wrapping paper. and mill
board. and certain coal substitutes for do
nestle use II Is also employed linked
with melted rosin and pressed into
SquareSb in making fire lighters.
Sawdust is not employed in any chemi-
cal manufacture here. except TO a very
slight extent In the manufacture of gun
powder and other kinds of explosives.
The average current price OF dry white
sawdust is $243 per 2-2l0 pounds. although
as high a. $3.50 has been offered in the
past few weeks. The price was formerly
about $l-S2 the advance being largely due
to the high price of coal. which has caused
the mills 10 use their SaWduSt as fuel: also
10 the fact that the value of sawdust as a
material Of manufacture is beginning to
be recognized.