There was a path to making white chips without any recipes that required white chips, but it was a bit roundabout.
Plastic required Propene which required methanol which could be made by the green algae process which can circumvent the omnic acid requirement by converting raw wood directly into Cellulose.
The Ferric Chloride solution required saline water which required the 5-step deep-sea floor mud washing process.
Overall, this method was extremely wood intensive.