How Biotechnology Helped Maintain the Supply of Acetone for the Manufacture of Cordite During World War I

Abstract Cordite was the main propellant used for ballistic weaponry at the start of the twentieth century. The Royal Navy required high quality specific types of this propellant in order for its ordnance to operate most effectively. Acetone was needed as a gelatinizing agent to incorporate the chemical components during cordite manufacture. At the start of World War I the United Kingdom’s reserve of acetone was very limited. Traditionally, acetone was obtained from wood distillation. An alternative method for making acetone was essential. Chaim Weitzmann (the first President of Israel) was instrumental in formulating a bacterial process that could make a significant contribution to the supply of acetone needed to keep the guns firing. Many problems relating to the efficiency and scale of production had to be overcome. Holton Heath in Dorset became the site where the process became one of the first examples of biotechnology working at an industrially useful scale.