Home-Grown Paper & Ink

A potential source of pulp for paper is kenaf, a fibrous import from Southeast Asia. Resembling bamboo, kenaf grows tall enough to harvest for paper pulp in just 160-180 days. ARS has already developed varieties with increased fiber.

A potential source of home-grown ink is made from soybean oil instead of petroleum. A hybrid ink of 70 percent petroleum and 30 percent soy oil is now being used by many newspapers. Illinois state publications already are being printed with 100-percent soy ink developed by ARS chemists in Peoria.

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Keeping Lyme Disease Away

ARS chemists and entomologists teamed up to find a substitute for citronella, which was typcially used to repel mosquitoes, chiggers, and fleas.

Research entomologists tried keeping pests away with literally thousands of substances, reporting their findings to chemists. Chemists observed that one particular group of chemicals had repellent action. In time, they came up with 33 new chemicals and sent them to the entomologists for testing.

One of the chemicals, deet, proved superior to all others. At half strength, it kept mosquitoes and other pests away for four hours; at full strength, for at least 20. Diluted with alcohol, it didn't feel greasy. And it was safe to use directly on the skin.

Deet soon turned up as the active ingredient in a whole array of commercial repellents. In a recent survey, deet was the active ingredient in 35 commercial repellents, including sprays, lotions, gels, creams, towelettes, and sticks. The amount of deet in these various formulations ranged from 7-percent to 100-percent. One popular line of repellents, OFF! (Registered Trademark) manufactured by S.C. Johnson & Son, includes a 15-percent spray and 100-percent deet lotion.

Tests of deet's efficacy resumed a few years ago with identification of Lyme disease, a debilitating illness carried by the tiny deer tick. Agricultural scientists, working in deer country on Cape Cod, demonstrated that when clothing and skin were sprayed with deet, deer ticks (and Lyme disease) were kept at bay.

When U.S. soldiers were assigned to Operation Desert Storm and Somalia, they protected themselves from mosquitoes and other disease-carrying pests with a cream containing deet.

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Omnipresent Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum, a thickener discovered at the ARS lab in Peoria, is not a chemical dditive but a natural food.  It is fermented from glucose, a simple sugar made from starch, by the action of a microorganism, Xanthomonas campestris. Xanthan gum turns up in Kraft French dressing and nearly every other bottled salad dressing; in Cool Whip and other whipped toppings; in Weight Watchers foods; Wonder Bread products; and Plax mouthwash. It's also in barbecue sauce, tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, salsa, and Alfredo sauce.

Xanthan gum is also used to extend the life of gas and oil wells that have stopped producing. A solution of water and xanthan gum is pumped into the earth to push out any remaining crude oil.  This versatile product is also driven into the ground with sand under high pressure  to fracture rock in oil and gas wells.

Several companies produce xanthan gum today.  Kelco Company, a major pharmaceutical company, which is now a division of Merck and Company, was the first company to produce it.

Cornstarch costs about 89 cents a pound; xanthan gum sells for about $7 a pound.

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Fiber from Oat Hulls

A no-calorie, high-fiber additive for baked goods was developed by ARS biochemists in Peoria. It is made from oat hulls and similar crop residues, like straw and corn cobs. These residues contain a substance, lignocellulose.

The scientists discovered that a slightly alkaline solution of hydrogen peroxide will dissolve the lignin in many crop residues after a few hours of soaking. Lignin is the cement that binds plant cell walls. Released from lignin, oat hulls and other residues disintegrate into absorbent cellulose fibers with a pulp-like consistency. The fibers can then be ground into a flour-like additive.

One scientist found that "fluffy cellulose" could be added to cakes and other items for human consumption. It does not alter a cake's flavor, but it does increase fiber content while lowering a cake's caloric value--two important dietary objectives. It actually improves a cake's texture.

Since its discovery, fluffy cellulose flour has been used in a variety of commercial products including "lite" breads, tortillas, buns, muffins, and beef and sausage patties.

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New Cholesterol-Fighter

ARS scientists developed and patented;a fat substitute from soluble oat fiber called Oatrim (USPN 4,996,063; Docket #1074.87). The product, which reduces fat and calories and fights blood cholesterol, is commercialized and is an ingredient in many meats, dairy, bakery and other food items. Oatrim comes from enzyme-treated oats and barley that have unique fat-like properties. It is formulated into many low-fat foods because it has only about 10 percent of the calories as fat. The fat substitute is used in some baked goods and cheeses and is identified on the label as Oatrim or hydrolyzed oat flour.  Oatrim hit the marketplace less than two years after its development.  The technology led to the creation of a new company started by two women in San Diego, CA. The two entrepreneurs opened Jean's Posh Pastry, a manufacturer of mail-order cookies and baked goods. This development has been licensed by Rhodia, Inc.,Cranbury, NJ, and Quaker Oats Company, Chicago, IL.

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Amazing Super Slurper

Super Slurper, one of the most commercially successful cornstarch products to emerge from the ARS lab in Peoria, can absorb 2,000 times its own weight in water.

Since it was patented (see end of this section for list of patent numbers relating to this invention) by USDA in 1976, Super Slurper has been improved several times, and new and practical uses for the thirsty gel are found every year. Among other things, it has turned up in disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, in bandages and baby powders, and as a seed jacket to accelerate germination. It is also used to remove water from fuels and to clean up pesticide spills.

A form of super slurper is also used in products to help plants hold moisture and fertilizer in the soil until needed.  Another product is used to remove water from fuels and fuel storage tanks.

(US Patent Numbers 3,935,099; 3,981,100; 3,985,616; 3,997,484; 4,116,899)

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Soap for Hard Water

When water is cold or where it is hard--loaded with calcium or magnesium salts--soap washes poorly. In hard water, it forms a curd-like substance called lime soap, the culprit behind the bathtub ring.

ARS scientists in Philadelphia modified soap by blending it with other substances derived from tallow called "lime soap dispensing agents." The resulting detergents clean well in hard, soft, cold, and hot water. They biodegrade completely, contain no phosphates, and are nontoxic to humans and animals. The research has been applied in several U.S. soaps, including Zest and Lever 2000, and is being used for laundry soaps in several foreign countries.

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Flexible Vinyl

A USDA chemist at the Philadelphia lab found that inserting an atom of oxygen into unsaturated fatty acids could convert them into valuable plasticizers and stabilizers. The process was called epoxidation and it led to a billion-dollar plastics industry. The chemist transformed vinyl plastics, which were then hard and rigid and decomposed in sunlight, into the soft, flexible, and long-lasting vinyl that is used today for floor coverings, upholstery, and many other products. At least 75-percent of the plasticizers used in flexible vinyl today are made from soybean oil.

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USDA Invents the Aerosol

The first aerosol can was invented by a USDA chemist and a USDA entomologist shortly before the United States entered World War II. The scientists were looking for a way to apply oil-free insecticides in mushroom houses. After several false starts, which included vaporizing insecticides by spraying them on a hot plate, they came up with a brand new approach. They dissolved an insecticide, pyrethrum extract, in a nonflammable, nontoxic, liquefied gas under pressure in a steel container. The insecticide was allowed to escape in a fine spray through an oil burner nozzle.

The researchers, Goodhue and Sullivan, obtained a public service patent for their invention in 1941 (USPN 2,321,023), under which royalty-free licenses were issued for the manufacture of insecticidal aerosols until the patent expired in 1960.

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Updated 7/18/03