Motor Fuels From Farm Wastes.--A process for the chemical conversion of such agricultural residues as corncobs, sugarcane bagasse, peanut shells, flax shives, oat hulls and cotton seed hulls anti burrs into liquid motor fuel and other commercially valuable products is moving into the semi-works stage of experimentation at the Department of Agriculture's Northern Regional Research Laboratory at Peoria, Illinois.
Results of experimental laboratory investigations by Department chemists indicate that from 9o to 95 gallons of liquid motor fuel can be obtained from a ton of corncobs or cottonseed hulls and that about half of this is in the form of ethyl alcohol. A continuous process of the treatment (or saccharification) of corncobs and cottonseed hulls has been worked out by Drs. E. C. Lathrop and J. W. Dunning of the Peoria Laboratory and gave such promising results in the laboratory stage that the work is to be enlarged so that it may now be evaluated on a semi-commercial scale. This enlarged program calls for a new building with modern equipment and a staff of approximately I5 of the best scientists obtainable.
Around ~oo million tons of farm wastes are produced each year. Much of this is plowed back into the soil to help maintain fertility and prevent erosion. It is estimated that something like Ioo million tons might be available for use in this new process for the production of liquid motor fuels. Corncobs will be the first of these so-called waste materials to be tried on a large scale in the new semi-works plant. Research on the other residues will be started later as the work progresses.
The ground residue or raw material is first treated with an acid, or saccharifled, to produce concentrated solutions of dextrose and xylose, which are fermented into alcohol, butanol, and acetone. Under the new saccharification process relatively pure, separate solutions of 5-carbon sugars and 6-carbon sugars are obtained. These solutions contain from IO to 15 per cent. of sugar, which is about the content that is used in industrial fermentation. These are the materials from which liquid motor fuels may be made. Furfural and lignin are at present obtained as byproducts of the process. The new plant is designed to produce approximately 2,o0o pounds of dextrose, 1,6oo pounds of xylose, 1,0oo pounds of lignin, and 20o pounds of furfural from 6,6oo pounds of raw residue in an eight-hour operating period.
This particular study on the industrial utilization of farm waste material is a part of a broad program authorized by Congress in I944 for large-scale research on the production of synthetic liquid fuels from coal, oil shale, agricultural and forestry products, and other substances. Work on coal and oil shale will be carried on by the Bureau of Mines of the Department of the Interior. Investigations on agricultural and forestry products will be handled by the Department of Agriculture.
R. H. O.