Viscose: fiber from wood pulp

Viscose is made from the cellulose in wood. Trees are pulped into a purified sheet called dissolving pulp, which is treated with caustic soda and carbon disulphide until it dissolves into a thick, honey-like liquid. That liquid is pushed through a spinneret into an acid bath, where the cellulose turns solid again as fine filaments. These are washed and usually cut into staple fiber. The raw material is natural, but the fiber is formed in a factory, which is why viscose is called a regenerated or man-made cellulosic fiber. Modal and lyocell are close cousins made from the same kind of pulp by different routes.