UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUR 



BULLETIN No. 1003 



Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry 

 W. G. CAMPBELL, Acting Chief 



And the University of Idaho, A. H. UPHAM 

 President 



Washington, D. C. 



December 5, 1921 



THE DISTILLATION OF STUMPWOOD AND LOGGING 

 WASTE OF WESTERN YELLOW PINE. 



By M. G. DONK, Assistant Chemist, Leather and Paper Laboratory, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, C. H. SHATTUCK, Professor of Forestry, and W. D. MARSHALL, 

 Research Fellow, Forestry Department, University of Idaho. 1 



CONTENTS. 



Importance of western yellow pine 



Distribution of western yellow pine- 

 Purpose of investigation 



Taking samples 



Distillation of samples 



Crude products of retort distillation- 

 Products obtained in refining crude 



turpentine 



Calculation of yields of refined tur- 

 pentine and pine oil 



Page. 



2 

 13 

 15 

 22 

 31 



37 



41 



Page. 



Commercial distillation processes 43 



Feasibility of distilling western yel- 

 low pine 46 



Relation of wood distillation to land 



clearing- 51 



Small, semi-portable wood-distilling 



plantjs 53 



Use of oil for ore flotation 54 



Refining crude wood turpentine 56 



Summary 67 



Literature cited 69 



IMPORTANCE OF WESTERN YELLOW PINE. 



Western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) is the most widely dis- 

 tributed of the western commercial softwoods (4, 10) 2 (fig. 1). 

 The Forest Service estimates the amount of standing timber of this 

 species to be approximately 335,000,000,000 board feet, or more than 

 that of any other species except Douglas fir (6). The reported cut 

 for this species for 1917 was 1,862,914,815 board feet. This repre- 

 sents an area of more than 350,000 acres of land annually cleared 

 and left covered with stumps after logging operations. About one- 

 third of this is within the national forests and is generally of little 

 value for agriculture, because of the roughness of the land. Much 

 of the remaining two-thirds, however, is valuable for crops. 



1 The sections on the importance and distribution of the western yellow pine are by 

 C. H. Shattuck. The report of the investigation is by M. G. Donk. 



2 The numbers in parenthesis throughout this bulletin refer to the bibliography on 

 page 69. 



60953 21 1 



^96093 



