Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1901 — NEW USES FOR SAWDUST. [ARTICLE]

NEW USES FOR SAWDUST.

Machinery Invented to ‘ Extract It* Many Valuable Products. Scientific men have long been engaged in the study of methods of utilizing waste products, such as sewage, garbage and many other things, formerly thrown away as worthless. After it is ascertained just what these materials contain that can be utilized, ingenious men set their wits to work to invent machinery and devise processes by which the valuable commodities may be extracted. In this way many million dollars’ worth of oils, fertilizers and other useful substances are now saved and the world is so much the richer. A great deal of sawdust has always gone to waste, though many mills have used it to supplement their fuel supply. Chemical analysts have been at work on the sawdust problem and it has been shown clearly that, it contains very useful elements that are worth saving; and now machinery has been Invented to extract these materials. The experiments have proven that 1,000 pounds of sawdust will yield about 160 pounds of char winch is practically the same as charcoal, and equally serviceabe; 180 pounds of acids, 160 pounds, of tar and a quantity of gases that have been tested for heating and illuminating and found to be excellent for both purposes. While the acids, tar and char are the products particularly desired it is said the gases are of commercial value. A machine has been invented in Montreal for the purpose of distilling sawdust and obtaining the desired products. Consul General Bittinger writes that the machine treats about 2,000 pounds of wet sawdust an hour. As Canada manufactures enormous quantities _pf lumber, it is expected that the utilization of sawdust In that country will be an important source of valuable commodities. There are twenty places in Europe where oxalic acid is extracted from sawdust. In Scotland sawdust is used to make floor cloth, coarse wrapping paper and millboard, which is a kind of pasteboard used by bookmakers in the covers of books. Thus sawdust, once thought to be a good deal of a nuisance is quite a useful article.—New York Sun.