YIELDS FROM DISTILLATION OF CERTAIN HARDWOODS. 



Table 1. — Yields of alcohol and acetic acid in percentages based on the oven- 

 dry weight of the material distilled. 





Locality. 



Wood 



alcohol 

 cent). 



(100 per 



Total acetic acid. 



Species. 



Heart- 

 wood. 



Slab- 

 wood. 



Mean 

 heart- 

 wood and 

 slabwood. 



Heart- 

 wood. 



Slab- 

 wood. 



Mean 

 heart- 

 wood and 

 slabwood. 



Beech 



Indiana 



Per ct. 

 1.95 

 1.45 

 1.94 

 2.12 

 2.03 

 1.89 

 L91 



1.79 



Per ct. 

 1.79 

 1.55 

 1.91 

 1.68 

 1.79 

 1.77 

 1.43 



2.04 



Per ct. 

 1.87 

 1.50 

 1.93 

 1.90 

 1.91 

 1.83 

 1.67 



1.91 



2 2.02 



1.27 



Per ct. 

 5.56 

 6.71 

 5.42 

 6.39 

 5.77 

 6.30 

 4.64 



5.65 



Per ct. 

 6.18 

 6.88 

 5.11 



16.61 

 5.53 

 5.31 

 4.14 



5.16 



Per ct. 



5.87 



Birch 



Wisconsin 



6.80 



Maple 



do 



5.26 



White elm 



Peimsylvania 



6.50 



Slippery elm 



Wisconsin 



5.65 



Silver maple 



... do 



5.81 



Green, blue, and yellow 



ash. 

 Black ash 



Tennessee and Mis- 

 souri. 

 Wisconsin 



4.39 

 5.40 







24.51 



Chestnut oak ^ 



Tennessee 



1.22 

 1.72 



1.30 



4.88 

 6.89 



'"'4.' 96' 



4.58 



4.91 



4.90 









Black oak 



do 



1.53 

 1.31 

 1.68 



2 1.66 

 1.40 

 1.50 



6.01 

 5.43 

 5.31 



2 6.76 



Swamp oak 



Louisiana 



1.50 

 1.33 



5.16 



Eucalyptus 





4.94 









1 One-third of this sample was slab free from bark. 



2 Limbs. 



3 In case of chestnut oak the mean is not the average, since the slab represented more runs than heart. 



VARIATION DUE TO FORM OF MATERIAL. 



The elms, silver maple, green ash, blue ash, yellow ash, and swamp 

 oak gave larger yields of alcohol from heartwood than from slabs, 

 but black ash, chestnut oak, and eucalyptus gave the larger returns 

 from the slabwood. Chestnut oak, white elm, and eucalyptus slab- 

 wood yielded more acetic acid than the heartwood of these species, 

 following the tendency previously noted in several other species for 

 sapwood to give more acid than heartwood. California black oak 

 limbs (practically all sapwood) gave a large yield of acid.^ Silver 

 maple yielded more acid from heartwood than from sapwood. 



YIELDS PER CORD, ALCOHOL AND ACETATE. 



COMPARISON OF YIELDS. 



Table 2 is a conversion to a commercial basis of the results given 

 in Table 1. The raw material is expressed in terms of cords ^ and 

 the products are given in terms of gallons of 82 per cent wood alcohol 

 and pounds of 80 per cent acetate of lime. The three standard species 

 are again given for comparison. 



The relative yields from the species tested are quite different when 

 compared on the cord basis and on the percentage weight basis. 

 These differences are, of course, due to the large variation in weight 

 per unit volume of the different woods. The two species of elm and 

 the silver maple are much lighter woods than beech or hard maple, 

 and therefore do not compare so favorably on the cord basis. The 

 oaks and eucalyptus are appreciably heavier than the standard 

 species, and consequently have a high relative value per cord. 



1 Compare tupelo gum. Bulletin 129. 

 - The weights per cord are calculated by multiplying 

 foot of air-seasoned material of the species. 



by 90 the known weight per cubic 



