The Hardwood Distillation Industry in New York 49 



Plant Operation. 

 The following are the principal features of plant opera- 

 tion. Each is briefly described, giving the principal commer- 

 cial features involved, such as costs, per cord charges, and 

 other commercial features involved in the operation of a 

 wood distillation plant. 



Fuel 



Altogether there are six forms of fuel commonly used in 

 the hardwood distillation industry. They are as follows: 

 Coal, natural gas, charcoal, wood, wood tar and wood gas. 

 Altogether coal is most commonly used. In the district cen- 

 tering around Olean many of the plants use natural gas. 

 Most of the plants in the Olean district, however, are just 

 over the 'New York line in Pennsylvania. The plant at 

 Vandalia is the only one in the district in ISTew York State. 

 Both hard and soft coal are commonly used for the purposes 

 of direct heating and the production of steam. Most of the 

 Delaware county plants use coal. Practically all of the plants 

 in the State use the wood tar and wood gas, which are 

 products of the distillation process, directly under the ovens 

 or retorts or under the boilers. 



The estimates regarding the cost of fuel vary considerably. 

 Altogether estimates were received from $1.15 to $2 per cord. 

 The cost will naturally vary with the kind of fuel used, the 

 distance from source of supply, efficiency of boilers and 

 steam pipes and other correlated factors. In one of the 

 larger plants of the State which has seven 25-foot ovens, it 

 was estimated that 300 bushels of charcoal, 300 gallons of 

 wood tar and all of the available wood gas were used for each 

 charge of seven ovens. . At a prominent plant in Delaware 

 county it was estimated that 300 pounds of soft bituminous 

 coal were used for the distillation of one cord of wood. In an 

 oven containing ten cords, therefore, this would require 3,000 

 pounds of soft coal for one charge. It is estimated that 



