The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-14
SEE MOTOR
fuel IN
SAWDUST
Alcohol May be Obtained
from Wood Waste Ac-
cording to Federal
Bureau.

Distilling from sawdust a true grain
alcohol which can be used as a fuel for
automobiles is now being worked out
on the Canadian side of the interna-
tiona1 boundary, according to officials
OF the Madison (wis) Forest Products
Laboratory of the federal forest service,
which was d pioneer in this line Of ex-
lperimenting.
81 am inclined to think, however"
said Howard F. Weiss. director of the
Laboratory, that the Canadian forester
who prophesies that Canadian made
through underground pipes like city
gas is a little too enthusiastic in his
views. He is, however on the right
trace in the development of alcohol as
a motor fuel"
The report sent out from Madison
continues:
IAN enormous supply Of wood waste
is available in the great valleys Of the
Willow, Nechako, Buckley and Skeena
rivers in Central British Columbia,
where the forests have been giving way
to agriculture in part, but where there
is still limitless supply of big timber.
This territory has recently been opened
UP by the new transcontinental Grand
Trunk Pacific, and 1t is on woods taken
from this region that the experiments
for the production Of alcohol have been
carried on. The wood waste is broken
down by distillation, and the wood al
cohoI produced converted by simple
processes into true grain alcohol.
with approximately 100000 motor
states. from 1000, O0O, 900 to 1900, O0O,-
900 gallons of gasoline have to be pro-
Ivided annually to keep them running.
There are unmistakable signs that the
production of this enormous volume of
Igasoline will become increasingly diff
hcult. and as a consequence there Is in
the minds of many automobile engine
lstudents the vague thought that gaso-
line. while the fuel Of today, may have
to give way to some other product to-
morrow.
although the calorific power Of al
Icohol is little more than one-half that
of gasoline, its greater efhciency-alco-
hol % per cent, gasoline 16 per cent
compensates for this. This higher eff
f1ciency of alcohol is due to various
causes. chief among which are the fol-
flowing:
81. The volume Of air required for
Icomplete combustion of alcohol is only
about one-third that required by gaso-
line, and thus much less energy goes
away in the exhaust. Moreover. this
small dilution with air enables q more
perfect mixture to be formed with con-
lseouent more perfect combustion.
"2. The alcohol-air mixture can be
safely subjected to pressures of 200
pounds a square inch without spon-
Itaneous ignition, whereas the safety
limit for gasoline is eighty.
"3. All mixtures Of alcohol and air
! containing from to 1876 per cent OF al
! lcohol are explosive, whereas the ex-
. plosive range Of gasoline Is from to 8
per cent necessitating much more care
} full carburetor adjustment.
u. The combustion products Of al
cohoI are smokeless, almost odorless
and do not clog up the cylinders and
valves. \
"The only serious dificulty encoun-
TERED would be the starting Of the en-
lgine in cold weather. and this could be
provided for by carrying small aux
; iliary gasoline tank to be used in start
ing. !.
Interesting. owing to the low cost Of
j raw material, il the waste from the
!, lumber industry. particularly that in
fthe form OF sawdust or small chips.
! This material in the vicinity Of saw
, mills or woodworking plants is often
an item of loss owing to it's production
in excess of their own power require
ments, its value never rising above 80
cents q ton, even when used as a source
of power. The disposal Of this super
Ifiuous waste costs from 30 cents to So
cents a cord of 1900 pounds. the total
: annual loss from this cause amounting
to about 100000 annually. in addi-
Ition to the value OF the wood so burned.
From experiments which have been
Icarefully conducted by various expert
mentors ton Of dry sawdust has been
found to yield, with proper treatment,
Iaround twenty to twenty five gallons
of 96 per cent alcohol (ethyl or grain
lalcohol, not wood alcohol, for this latL
ter is useless for fuel purposes owing
to the formation of products Of COM
bustion which would wreck the cylin-
lders) and we could have, therefore, an
ESTIMATED production from this source
lnually." . -
There is nothing easier than to scold
about wrong or blunder; there is
nothing harder than to foresee and
prevent the mistake. to help intelh-