The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1905-12-06
VOID DIsFILLATION.
This Forest Service Fakes up the
Study Of This Method Of Uti-
lizinc Waste in LoosinG
and at the Mill.

4
Wood distillation has been tried
in this country so extensively Of
late, and has been Brought SO
Prominently to the attention Of
the Forest Service as means Of
utilizing waste in numbering, that
a careful and thorough investiga-
tion is to be made by the Service,
covering both what has been ac-
complished in this industry and
what may be done to reduce it to
to more scientific principles and to
place it upoa sound commercial
basis. The various processes now
in use will. be studied and COM
pared, as well as the resulting
products and the uses to which
they are or may be put.
To push this study to early and
useful results with the least possi-
bic delay, Mr.. Thomas w. Pritch-
ard, a practical expert on wood
distillation, has been engaged by
the Forest Service to devote his
entire time to the work.
Destructive distillation consists
of driving out all the liquid mat
ters in the wood and collecting and
copdensing them afterwards. In
tense heat is employed, and the
original form of the wood is
changed chemically into various
liquids and pure carbon. The
wood is closely placed in a steel
retort with the doors tightly sealed
and fires are started in the fur.
mace beneath.
In a few hours distillation be-
gins. The liquids are driven from
the wood, are changed to vapors,
and pass of through pipe at the
top of the retort, which leads to
condenser of worm, immersed in
water, where they are condensed
IN the order of their gravity. |
Again restored to liquid form,
they then pass through the rest of
the coil, and run into colleeting
tanks. The gas, the lightest of
the products, rises to the top of
the coil and is piped off.
The liquid products are redis-
titled in secondary still into the
various oils and by-products.
Thus, the thin, amber oolored oil,
which is one of the products of the
first distillation, is changed in the
second still into wood spirit or
terpentine, light oil and a heavy
oil, the residuum being tar. This
process which is the one carried on
at several successful plants, is only
one of those which the Forest Ser
vice is to take up critically.
The outfit for plant with
of 100 chords of wood
every thirty-si hours, which is as
small as can be profitablY handled,
consists of a battery" or two re-
Iorts holding five cords of wood .
bach. These retorts are set in
orickwork, about 100000 bricks ,
being required for a 'battery."
n addition are needed coil or
of copper, copper still :
# capacity of 1000 gallons, a
econd condenser, sufficient col
Getting and storing tanks, boiler
t not less than 10 horse power. !,
nd pumps to handle the products.
LII piping should be, if possible, of
opper, except after the second
lstillation, and the pumps should T.
e brass lined. =
From such a plant the yield Il,
hould be approximately from IS :
} 100 gallons of oil or tar per g
ord, and from 10 to Is gallons of :
ood turpentine. There are also :,
about 25 bushels of char y,
'al and pyroligneous acid in :.
lantities about equal to the oil. n
ne amount of products is in di- =,
ct ratio to the resinous constit-
ants in the raw material. The.
llue Of the products is variable. tr
properly made the tar should ii,
ing the average market price of of