Viscose

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Viscose is a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane. Cellulose from wood or cotton fibres is treated with sodium hydroxide, then mixed with carbon disulfide to form cellulose xanthate, which is dissolved in more sodium hydroxide. The resulting viscose is extruded into an acid bath either through a slit to make cellophane, or through a spinneret to make viscose rayon (sometimes simply called viscose). The acid converts the viscose back into cellulose.

The process for manufacturing viscose was discovered by three British scientists, Charles Cross, Edward Bevan and Clayton Beadle, in 1891. Viscose is becoming less common because of the polluting effects of carbon disulfide and other by-products of the process.