The Environmental and Economic Impact

The Environmental and Economic Impact

How is it used in environmentally friendly ways?

Pine Chemistry utilizes natural, renewable products as raw materials to make some of the most basic, yet necessary, items. The sap taken from trees (called crude tall oil), for example, is used in many products as a substitute for petroleum-based materials. And sawdust plays a crucial role in lowering automobile gas emissions.

What are Pine Chemicals?

One of the oldest segments of the chemical industry, pine chemicals are a family of renewable, natural y occurring materials derived from the pine tree (genus Pinus). Pine trees originate from the northern hemisphere but are now found worldwide. Significant pine resources are found in the United States as well as Canada, Scandinavia, South America, and Asia. The first recorded use of pine pitch dates from the 4th through 2nd centuries B.C. in Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Pine resins were also used as adhesives for construction purposes in the 4th century A.D. As navigation and seaborne trade grew in the Middle Ages so did the need for pine tars and pitches for caulking and weatherproofing the wooden hulls and rigging of sailing and other seagoing vessels. For this reason, pitch and turpentine are commonly-known crude products c alled naval stores. 

Other pine chemicals include tall oil, rosin, and various fatty acids. Many of these chemicals were initially  developed in the 20th century. Pine chemicals are derived from the distillation of oleoresin or carbonization of wood. These chemicals are largely obtained from three sources: 1) living trees; 2) dead pine stumps and logs; and 3) as by-products of sulfate (or Kraft) pulping. Most distilled products are made from gum, stumps, logs, and sulfate pulp by-products. Gum is obtained by scoring (or wounding) living trees and collecting the oleoresins. Turpentine is a volatile component of these oleoresins, and is separated via distillation. When stumps and logs are used, the oleoresin is extracted using solvents, and the turpentine is then distilled from the rosin with steam. Various chemical processes including acidification, fractional distillation, and solvent extraction are subsequently used to refine and purify the different pine chemicals.

Most turpentine is now made as a by-product of sulfate pulping, where it is recovered during the initial steaming of the pulp with removal of relief gases. Turpentine is a minor product that is often sold to fractionators who convert the turpentine into its three major components: alpha-pine, beta-pine, and other terpene. The refined turpentine is primarily sold for use as paint thinner or it is further refined.

Major fractionated terpene derivatives and its uses include synthetic pine oil, beta-pine resins, insecticides, and flavors and fragrances. Tall oil is obtained by treating the black liquor skimming(a by-product of sulfate pulping) with acid. It is essentially a mixture of oleic and other unsaturated fatty acids and rosin acids. More than 90%of the tall oil produced is distilled or fractionated for upgrading to fatty acid, rosin, and tall -oil pitch. The latter contains rosin anhydrides, estolides, miscellaneous hydrocarbons, and distilled tall-oil heads.

The remaining crude tall oil is refined with acid or sold as crude tall oil. In its modified forms as salts, esters, and adducts, rosin is used in a variety of industrial applications. Major uses include printing inks, paper sizing, and adhesives as well as chemical intermediates, rubber, and coatings.

Carbonized products are primarily charcoal and charcoal briquettes made by distilling or partially burning wood. For the purposes of this study, these carbonized products are not included in pine chemicals. Some by-products of carbonization , however, are produced and they include distilled wood turpentine, methanol, and acetic acid. At one time, carbonization was the sole source for methanol, which was commonly referred to as wood alcohol.

Phenol and creosote are other products. Other chemical products include tannin used in tanning, essential oils, and medicin. These carbonized products are not included within this analysis of pine chemicals.

Activated carbon made from wood and used mainly for emissions control, however, is included as it is produced within pine chemical facilities.

The Pine Chemical Industry

As defined in the economic nomenclature, the pine chemicals industry is not a distinct industry. Rather, pine chemicals are included as part of several different industries. The primary industry is Gum and Wood Chemicals Manufacturing (NAICS 325191) which comprises establishments primarily engaged in (1) distilling wood or gum into products, such as tall oil and wood distillates, and (2) manufacturing wood or gum chemicals, such as naval stores, natural tanning materials, and related products.

Pine chemicals are also captured within All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing (NAICS 325199). For the purposes of this analysis, carbonized products such as charcoal are not included within pine chemicals industry analysis