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Possjhilities of Hardwood Distillation 



Hardwooil (listilUitioii is a subject tliat lias been ilisciissed in a more 

 or less general ami imjiersonal way with perhaps only a niodieum of 

 real interest on the jiart of hardwooil sawmill men and others in- 

 terested in the hardwood industry. Now, however, we are coming 

 down to real facts in connection with hardwood distillation, and 

 reaching the point where the interest of the average hardwood man 

 should be both real and keen, and for the sake of better and closer 

 utilization and more returns generally, every man in the trade, should 

 study this subject and see just what are his possibilities to make wood 

 distillation a factor in his business. 



Wood distillation has been experiniouteil with and practiced in this 

 country more or less for about a generation. Authorities differ as 

 to the exact days of the earliest efforts. Some carry it back as far 

 as 1830 and others to 1852. Some valuable information on hardwood 

 distillation was furnished at a recent meeting of the American In- 

 stitute of Chemical Engineers in an elaborate paper by Edward H. 

 French and James R. Withrow. From historical data gathered by 

 these men it seems that among the pioneer efforts at distillation was 

 what was known as the Scotch Works, built in 1832 by the Turn- 

 bull Company of Glasgow, Scotland, the location of this i)lant being 

 known at that time as Milburn, N. Y. Quite a number of plants were 

 developed along the methods followed by the Scotch Works, using 

 cylinders for distillation and producing mainly acetate of lime. An 

 interesting story is furnished of the early efforts and the gradual 

 development of the industry. The matter of prime interest to the 

 hardwood lumber fraternity today, however, is not so much the history 

 of what has been done as the possibilities of what may be done, the 

 methods followed, the cost of the work, and the possibilities in the 

 way of returns. 



In the matter of production cost and value Messrs. French and 

 Withrow have covered the matter in detail and have tabulated pro- 

 duction cost results as follows: 



Fuel $l.l.j 



Labor 1.2.T 



Llnic IS 



Bags 14 



Freight (acetate) 35 



Freight (alcohol) 10 



Selling Commission (acetate) 11 



Insurance, per cord.. .ofiSI 



Taxes, per cord 112' 57 



General expense J 



Total (operating expense) $3.85 



They take $5 as an average or ninxinuini wood value, which nuikes 

 a total cost per cord of $8.8.5. 



Comiiared with this they show a proiluctiou value as follows: 



Alcohol (82 per cent). 11 gal. at 2."> cents ■ .$2.75 



.\cetate of lime, 216 lbs. at .$1.75 3.78 



Charcoal, 52 bu., net 6!4 cents 3.38 



Total crude value $9.91 



To quote from the jiaper in question : ' ' This gives a production cost 

 of $8.85 and a sales value of ,$9.91 per cord. It- will be iioteil that 

 no selling costs, except in the case of acetate of lime, have been in- 

 eluded because in the works not refining or making the finished prod- 

 uct, which are in number far in excess of those who do refine, the 

 alcohol is sold under contract to the refiner and the charcoal as in 

 the case of those plants in the lake district is cither consumed at 

 iron furnaces in connection with the plants, or, as in the eastern field, 

 handled by a general sales agency controlle<l by the manufacturers." 

 The production costs in this case are based on what is called the 

 eastern fiehl, which, it is pointed out, gives a higher production than 

 the lake district. They figure, however, that this decrepancy is com- 

 pensated for by the fuel cost which is lower in the lake region 

 where mill waste is available. There is room for inquiry here. Ex- 

 amination should be made into the subject of the relation of capacity 

 to cost in the distilling plant, and the size or capacity of equipment 

 necessary to get an average or mininmm cost be determined. The 

 relation of the size of the equipment to get efficiency to the possible 



supply of raw material that might be available in the form of waste 

 wood must also be taken into consideration. 



Leaving out the cost of wooil supply and equii>nient necessary to 

 secure it regularly, it is estimate.l that the value of the equipment 

 necessary for hardwood distillation will run api>roximately $2,(100 per 

 cord per day of production. For instance, Mr. French says, that the 

 cost of boiler, oven, cars, coolers, pumps, etc., is about $650.00; 

 copper work, iiududing stills, condensers, piping, etc., ap|)roxiinately 

 $450, and brick work for ovens ami boiler settings about $190. These 

 three general items would of course vary a little with location and 

 other local conditions. However, the general figure of $2,000 for 

 equipment per cord, per day production is a reasonable estimate, 

 though, of course, this cost might be varied more or less in equipping 

 a plant, depending on the equipment, methods followed, and the ex- 

 tent to which the work of ])rodueing and refining is carried. 



One of the interesting features of the treatment of the subject of 

 hardwood distillation in the pajier referred to is in the tabulation of 

 the extent and distribution of hardwood distilling plants in the countr%- 

 at the present time. . This is as follows: 



Michigan 8 oven plants carbonizing 1,032 cords dally 



5 kiln plants carbonizing l.O.IO cords dally or 



i:! plants carbonizing 2,082 cords dally 



rinnsvlvaiiiB 33 oven plants carbonizing 1,-124 cords dally 



13 retort plants carlionizing 215 cords dally or 



4(; plants carbonizing 1,639 cords dally 



New York 7 oven plants carbonizing 2.1C cords dally 



17 retort plants carbonizing 362 cords dally or 



24 plants carbonizing 818 cords daily 



Wisconsin 2 oven plants carbonizing 06 cords daily 



1 oven-kiln plant carbonizing 25(1 cords dally or 



3 plants carbonizing 346 cords daily 



Kintuiky 1 oven plant carbonizing 20 cords ilally 



West Virginia ... . 1 oven plant carbonizing 40 cords dally 



Tennessee 1 oven plant carbonizing 32 cords dally 



Vermont 1 retort plant carbonizing 16 cords dally 



This makes a daily capacity in this country of 2.909 cords in 53 oven 

 plants or a total of 4.S02 in 00 plants. In Canada there are 9 oven 

 plants charring 424 cords daily and one retort plant charring 48 cords, 

 or a total of 472 cords in 10 plants. This makes a total for .\nierlctt 

 of 5,274 cords per day In 100 niants. 



This elaborate review of the hardwood distilling iinlustry in 

 America takes note among other things of efforts made in 1903 by 

 a well-known lumber concern at Cincinnati to distill sawdu.st con- 

 tinuously by means of an endless belt carrying the sawilust through 

 an oven. Mr. French says that it can be seen reailily that sawdust 

 cannot be destructively distilled in bulk because the insulating space 

 between the particles ])revents the heat from going through the mass. 

 That was the reason for the endless belt. The |)retentious effort 

 along this line mentioned did not prove profitable, but it does not 

 mean that some efforts may not prove successful, for it takes time 

 and failures as well as experiments to develop an industry of this 

 kind. 



Hardwooil lUstillation, es|iecially ilistillation of the waste products 

 of various kinds of the hardwood sawmill is a matter that seems 

 to have reached the point where we can get down to real business 

 and hope for actual returns, and it is therefore a subject which the 

 large operators in the hardwood territory should study closely — not 

 consider it as merely something distant and apart from them. It 

 has possibilities in the way of i)ersonal returns and n^^'-e .....tit out 

 of hardwood holdings. 



White pine and yellow pine are the woods most used for boxes, and 

 each contributes more than 1,000,000,000 feet to the box industry 

 annually. 



The annual cut of British ( 'olumbia timber is approximately 2,000,- 

 000,000 feet. There are 420 mills and 790 logging camps in the 

 province, employing about 60,000 men. 



—17— 



