Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Letter from James V. Roegiers

Karol Crosbie’s lead article "Building a Better Foundation" (pdf) in the Spring 2004 CCEEnews brought back many fond memories of my undergraduate days at Iowa State College in the mid-1950s. As a student, I worked part-time in the soils lab at the Engineering Experiment Station. Professors Dick Handy and Turgut Demirel and Instructor Jim Hoover were staff members in the CE Department under the direction of Merlin Spangler and D.T. Davidson.

Naturally, several research projects were underway, but my work was primarily in triaxial shear testing of the effects of stabilizing Iowa soils with native Iowa by-products such as furfural, a sweet-smelling oily liquid produced from corncobs or with phosphates and later phosphoric acid. There even was a county road reconditioned with a variety of these mixtures north of Colfax, Iowa.

Although the use of these additives for stabilizing soil to be used for road construction were inconclusive, Demirel did succeed in blending furfural alcohol and a trace of phosphoric acid into a commercial grade product called "corncrete," which at the time was considered to be competitive with and structurally superior to plywood. In addition to wall board, it could also be used for floor tile, insulating material, or acoustical ceiling tile.

I often wonder what happened to his discovery.

James V. Roegiers
BSCE 1958

4618 Belle Avenue
Davenport, Iowa 52807
563-359-1759

P.S. I retired in 1993 from Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Company (now a part of Mid-American Energy) after more than 37 years of service.