INFORMATION ON USSR HYDROLYSIS INDUSTRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250075-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 75
• Publication Date: March 27, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250075-0
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250075-0
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250075-0
INFORMATION ON USSR HYDROLYSIS INDUSTRY
[Comment; This is an excerpt from Lesnaya Promyshlennost' SSSR
(Forest Products Industry of the USSR), Series II-, N- Ye. I. Lonukhov, Znaniye, Noscow, 1955, by Engr
955, 32 pages.]
The hydrolysis industry manufactures ethyl alcohol, protein yeast, cry-
stalline sugars (glucose and xylose), furfural, and a number of other prod-
ucts out of inedible raw material of plant origin, principally wood pulp.
This branch of the wood conversion industry was created in the USSR during
the years of the prewar 5-year plans. Waste products of the wood-sawing,
woodworking, and sulfite cellulose industries, and also firewood, are raw
materials for the hydrolysis industry. The first Soviet sulfite alcohol
plant was built in 1935 at the Syas'sk cellulose-paper plant. At the end
of 1935 the first industrial hydrolysis plant operating on the waste ma-
terials from a wood-sawing plant began production in Leningrad. At present,
many large hydrolysis plants are in operation in the USSR and a number of
additional enterprises of this type are being constructed in various regions
of this country.
The hydrolysis of wood pulp, by yielding valuable technical raw ma-
terials for a number of branches of industry (primarily technical alcohol;,
saves millions of puds [one pud equals approximately 36 pounds of potatoes
and other food products. Every ton of absolutely dry wood pulp converted
into alcohol frees 0.'1' tons of grain or 1.6 tons of potatoes for other needs.
An average of 60 liters of alcohol can be obtained from one cu m of conifer
wood pulp. This method of alcohol production was found to b~ of advantage
from the economic standpoint.
During the fourth year of the Fifth Five-Year Plan, the alcohol pro-
duction capacity at hydrolysis plants was more than doubled.
Production by the hydrolysis method of molasses, which are a good
fodder for cattle, is highly efficient. This is a ncnperishable product
which can be easily transported in tank cars,
Hydrolyzed molasses are considerably superior to hay, fodder beets,
and potatoes both as to the carbohydrate content (potatoes, 18. N; molasses,
50%) and to the fodder equivalent (potatoes, 29.5%; molasses 66 ),
The workers of the USSR hydrolysis industry are striving toward the
most complete utilization of all valuable substances sound in the raw ma-
terials. In the technological processes that are applied, all kinds of
sugar are used in turn. The nonfermentable sugars remaining after the fer-
mentation of sugars to alcohol are used for the production of protein yeast.
The carbon dioxide which is given off during the fermentation of sugars
and of sulfite liquor is used for the manufacture of dry ice.
The concentrates which are obtained after. the evaporation of the spent
wort are used in foundries, in the petroleum industry, and also in the pro-
duction of vanillin, Lignin, which enters into the composition of wood pulp
and is not dissolved during hydrolysis, is used for the preparation of heat-
insulating boards and construction tiles, and is also employed in the pro-
duction of plastics. Such valuable by-products of the processing of wood
pulp as methyl alcohol and flisel oil are completely recovered.
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The hydrolysis industry is at present the largest consumer of waste ma-
terials of the wood-sawing and wood-working industries, and the only consumer
of sawdust, which comprises about 40% of these waste materials. For this rea-
son, hydrolysis plants of considerable capacity have been built and will be
constructed in the future at many of new wood-sawing plants.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250075-0