36 



BULLETIN 1003, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



state. In other words, the heat serves only to convert these oils 

 into vapors, which, after being cooled in the condenser, are col- 

 lected essentially as originally present in the wood. 



The three important constituents of acid liquor are acetic acid, 

 methyl (wood) alcohol, and acetone. Up to the present time these 

 products have been obtained almost exclusively from hardwood. 

 Owing to the greater amount of tarry substances present, softwood 

 acid liquor is extremely difficult to free from this constituent, and 

 the calcium acetate made therefrom is inferior in quality to that 

 from hardwood acid liquor. The yield, consisting of methyl alcohol 

 and acetone, is also substantially lower than that from hardwoods. 



The proportions of acid, alcohol, and acetone as found in these 

 western yellow-pine acid liquors (Table 17) were obtained by 

 analyzing a composite sample of acid liquor from each set of 

 charges run on the various kinds of wood. 6 



Table 17. — Composition of acid liquors. 



Grade and source. 



Poor stumpwood, Deary 



Rich stumpwood, Deary 



Medium stumpwood, Deary. . 



Dead, down wood, Deary 



Rich stumpwood, Coeur 

 d' Alene 



Medium stumpwood, Hayden 

 Lake 



Bull-pine stumpwood, Boise.. 



Medium stumpwood, Boise... 



Rich stumpwood, Boise 



Green selected stumpwood, 

 Boise 



Green selected stumpwood, 

 Craig Mountain 



Rich cut-over stumpwood, 

 Craig Mountain 



Rich cut-over stumpwood, 

 roadside, Craig Mountain. . . 



Tamarack stumpwood, Mos- 

 cow Mountain 



Selected dead, down wood, 

 Craig Mountain 



Selected dead tops, Craig 

 Mountain 



Selected green tops and limbs, 

 Craig Mountain 



Medium stumpwood, road- 

 side, Craig Mountain 



Rich stumpwood, near Pot- 

 latch 



Acid 



liquor, 



per 



cord. 



Galls. 

 59.4 

 55.9 

 54.3 



53.4 



60.9 



61.4 

 64.3 

 63.9 

 59.5 



63.6 



69.2 



62.4 



63.6 



74.0 



75.8 



63.2 



66.6 

 65.7 



Acetic acid. 



Per 

 liter. 



Gms. 

 67.76 

 64.67 

 67.82 

 64.49 



64.37 



65.44 

 77.55 

 64.67 

 68.12 



71.05 



70.40 



73.41 



65.12 



41.95 



48.35 



57.90 



49.67 



58.21 



59.72 



Per 

 cord. 



Lbs. 

 33.6 

 30.2 

 30.7 

 28.7 



32.7 



33.5 

 41.6 

 34.5 

 33.8 



37.7 



40.7 



38.2 



34.6 



25.9 



30.6 



30.5 



33.5 



32.4 



32.7 



10 per 



cent 



acetate 



of 

 lime 

 (calc. 

 from 

 acetic 

 acid), 



per 

 cord. 



Lbs. 

 55.3 

 49.7 

 50.5 

 47.2 



53.8 



55.1 

 68.5 

 56.8 

 55.6 



62.0 



67.0 



62.9 



56.9 



42.6 



50.4 



50.2 



55.1 



53.3 



53.8 



Methyl alco- 

 hol. 



Per 

 liter. 



Galls. 

 27.82 

 25.45 

 26.11 

 25.98 



23. 19 



27.35 

 29.37 

 25.21 

 25.34 



27.64 



26.18 



30.17 



29.27 



13.88 



24.32 



27.71 



28.09 



28.21 



18.26 



Per 

 cord. 



Galls. 

 2.10 

 1.80 

 1.79 

 1.76 



1.79 



2.13 

 2.40 

 2.04 

 1.91 



2.23 



2.29 



2.38 



2.36 



1.30 



2.34 



2.22 



2.87 



2.38 



1.54 



Per 

 liter. 



Gms. 

 2.24 

 2.77 

 2.44 

 2.33 



2.00 



1.92 

 2.21 

 2.12 

 2.16 



2.42 



2.26 



1.81 



2.07 



1.49 



1.75 



'2.09 



1.73 



2.10 



1.69 



Per 

 cord. 



Galls. 



0.20 

 .16 

 .16 

 .15 



.15 



.15 

 .18 

 .17 

 .16 



.19 



.19 



.14 



.16 



.14 



.17 



.16 



.17 



.17 



.14 



Dissolved oils 

 and tars. 



Per 



liter. 



G77IS. 



120. 08 

 134.58 

 156. 86 



122. 34 



136. 11 



172. 12 

 133. 90 

 128. 54 



161. 16 



159. 29 



152. 37 



143.31 



66.15 

 119. 71 

 117. 81 



78.98 

 114. 49 

 120. 83 



Per 

 cord. 



Lbs. 



56.0 

 60.9 

 69.9 



62.2 



69.7 

 92.3 

 71.4 

 63.8 



85.5 



92.0 



79.3 



76.0 



40.8 



75.7 



62.1 



53.2 



63.6 



66.1 



The analyses of the acid liquors were made by V. E. Grotliseh and G. C. Spencer, 

 Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture. 



