PINE
CHEMISTRY:
PRODUCT
INNOVATION THROUGH
FORESTRY’S
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
The Pine Chemistry sector produces
environmentally friendly products that are important to our everyday lives.
Pine Chemistry uses natural, renewable products as raw materials to make some of
the most basic, yet necessary, items. The Pine Chemistry industry relies on raw
materials from the forestry sector (wood, pulp and paper processes). These
co-products include crude tall oil, black liquor soap, crude sulfate turpentine
and sawdust. The use of these co-products is a classic example of efforts to
make the most efficient use of resources by literally trying to utilize every
part of a tree that is harvested.
Here are some of the many ways in
which Pine Chemistry touches our lives every day:
• Roads and sidewalks.
Pine Chemistry is used to make
asphalt, concrete and cement, which are important in building and construction
and allow for the creation of roads, highways, sidewalks and buildings.
• Air and water purification systems.
The activated carbon produced from
sawdust serves as a natural filter to
clean air in everything from auto emissions to drinking water.
• Paints and coatings.
Pine chemicals are used in the
production of paints and coatings, which help with renovating homes and
painting rooms and offices.
• Soaps and detergents.
Pine Chemistry is an important
ingredient in natural soaps and detergents, two items that are a necessary part
of any home.
• Adhesives.
Pine Chemistry is used in making
adhesives, which are used in everything from book binding, box labels, name
tags and many other applications.
• Hoses,conveyers and tires.
Pine Chemistry is used as additives
in the production of rubber hoses,
belts, conveyors and tires, making it an essential part of automobiles and
trucks.
Environmental Benefits
Pine Chemistry has valuable
environmental benefits. Here are just a few of the many ways Pine Chemistry
helps support our environment:
• Enviromentally friendly applicatons.
The sap taken from trees, also
called crude tall oil, after being extracted from the pulp and paper process,
can be used in products as an alternative for petroleum-based products in many
applications.
• Creates its own bioenergy.
All pine chemical biorefiners
capture the residue of their own processes as bioenergy. This secondary use
maximizes utilization of the original natural resource.
• Saves energy and reduces emissions.
Sawdust, one of the co-products of
Pine Chemistry, can be used as a natural absorbent to remove gases, corrosion
and odor, including prevention of vehicular gas emissions, which saves one
billion gallons of gasoline annually.
Protect a Renewable Resource
While the Pine Chemistry sector
supports the use of renewable energy, policies regarding biomass or renewable
resources should not disadvantage the Pine Chemistry sector. In the context of
energy policy, there are efforts to mandate or incentivize renewable energy
sources,
which could include burning biomass
to create energy. The forestry sector can be an important
biomass source; however, it is
imperative that state and federal policies regarding biomass or renewable
resources not directly or indirectly disadvantage the Pine Chemistry sector’s
materials.
Diverting these Pine Chemistry
resources as fuel will likely waste a renewable resource, and could hurt an
important part of the existing biorefining manufacturing infrastructure in the
U.S.
Unfortunately, government incentives
that encourage the burning of biomass for bioenergy may deplete the supply of
these valuable materials and prevent the Pine Chemistry sector from utilizing
these environmentally friendly and important co-products. The following are
critical factors to consider about biomass energy policies:
• It
does not make social, environmental or economic sense to incentivize the
indiscriminate burning of biomass materials that can have uses of more value to
the economy. Doing so could negatively impact the Pine Chemistry sector, which
could directly and indirectly impact thousands of jobs and impact an industry
that produces environmentally friendly and affordable co-products that are used
in a number of applications. Efforts to establish subsidies or mandates can
distort efficient use of resources and create inequities in the marketplace.
• It
is particularly critical that the definition of biomass or renewable resources
not include Pine
Chemistry feedstocks – specifically
black liquor soap, crude tall oil, turpentine, and sawdust.
• Pine
Chemistry is a renewable resource that should be used to make essential goods.
Pine Chemistry co-products have a higher value as a renewable raw material than
as a fuel. Generally speaking, raw materials should be used to their highest
potential.
• Market
forces, not government subsidies or mandates, should determine the use of Pine Chemistry
materials. There should be a level playing field for the use and application of
Pine Chemistry feedstocks. The Pine Chemistry sector relies on these materials.
Inappropriately diverting these renewable resources for fuel could have
devastating consequences for the Pine
Chemistry sector.
Actions Policymakers Can Take
Public policymakers can take the
necessary steps to make sure that the Pine Chemistry sector continues to be an
important industry. Policymakers can take action to ensure a level playing field
for the Pine Chemistry sector, as well as for those groups that wish to burn
tree co-products for energy. Policymakers can learn more about this issue by
visiting ACC’s Pine Chemistry Panel website at
pinechemistry.americanchemistry.com.
What is Pine Chemistry?
Pine Chemistry refers to the
co-products from the papermaking process that are upgraded into
crucial ingredients in a variety of
goods important to our everyday lives. This whole process ensures that the
papermaking process is efficient and its co-products are not wasted.
The raw materials, crude tall oil
and crude sulfate turpentine, are derived from evergreen, cone-
bearing trees during the pulping
process and are vital to the Pine Chemistry industry. The trees
yield cellulose to make paper, and
two co-products in the sap are further refined and upgraded to
be used in ink, paints and coatings,
adhesives, soaps and detergents, fragrances, chewing gum,
and pine oil disinfectants. Other
co-products, such as sawdust, are also used by the industry in
environmentally friendly ways,
including as a natural filter for everything from auto emissions to
drinking water.
Is this a new industry?
No. In fact, the Pine Chemistry
industry has been around for over 80 years. It is a stable industry
with a long history of contributing
to goods used across the country and around the world. It is a
long-standing example of bio-based
chemistry or biorefining in that it utilizes natural, renewable
products as raw materials.
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.
About Pine Chemistry
Aren’t there initiatives to have the
government incentivize the burning of renewable materials from the papermaking
process to create energy? Yes. There are
policies being proposed in some states and at the national level that would
classify these co-products as renewable biomass. This classification could lead
to tax credits that provide an incentive to burn them for energy instead of
allowing the existing Pine Chemistry industry to upgrade these products and use
the renewable resources to their fullest potential without incentives from
public funds. These government incentives potentially threaten the viability of
the Pine Chemistry sector because they could tip the balance in the favor of
bio-based energy. That is why we need to maintain a level playing field, where
success depends on economic competition, not government incentives.
What is the impact on the Pine
Chemistry sector when tree co-products
are burned to create energy?
Government incentives that encourage
companies to burn these important co-products from
the papermaking process could trigger
a market-distorting demand on the already scarce Pine Chemistry supplies. Since
pine trees are not harvested for co-products, supply is inelastic, which means
more demand will not lead to a greater supply. This could impact the goods that
consumers frequently use and lead to greater reliance upon imported and
fossil-based substitutes. Government incentives could subsidize the burning of
these co-products as opposed
to utilizing this renewable resource
to make essential goods.
But this does not have to be the
case. Policymakers should make certain there is a level playing
field, which means companies are not
incentivized at the expense of the Pine Chemistry sector
and existing U.S. jobs. If the Pine Chemistry sector suffers because of incentivized
burning of its feedstock, what would the likely consequences look like?
There could be a number of likely
consequences. Policies that incentivize the burning of Pine
Chemistry co-products could waste a
renewable resource, and potentially hurt a sector that is
important to the economy. Without
Pine Chemistry, American businesses could have to use other
ingredients that may not be
environmentally friendly as Pine Chemistry. Furthermore, this impact
to the healthy, domestic Pine Chemistry
sector could result in the loss of jobs over many years for
workers across the country. In many
cases, those jobs may not come back.
While the Pine Chemistry industry is
not opposed to providing energy incentives for new technology using underutilized
biomass, it is opposed to establishing subsidies or mandates for scarce resources,
such as Pine Chemistry, that could create inequities in the marketplace. That
is why it is important to allow the market to determine the use of various raw
materials.
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.
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