Tall oil

• CAS: 8002-26-4
• Catalog Number: ACM8002264-2
• Category: Main Products
• Synonyms: Tallol
• Appearance: viscous yellow-black odorous liquid
• Active Content: 95%
• Physical State: Liquid

Case Study

Preparation of biodiesel from tall oil

Demirbas, A. Energy Sources, Part A 30.20 (2008): 1896-1902.

Tall oil is a byproduct of softwood recovered during the kraft pulping process. Fatty acids can be recovered from tall oil by vacuum distillation. Biodiesel is emerging as an alternative substitute for petroleum diesel. Chemically, biodiesel is a fatty acid (meta)ethyl ester. Fatty acid derivatives have recently become more attractive as alternative fuels because of their environmental benefits and the fact that they are made from renewable resources. Methyl esters of fatty acids (biodiesel) are obtained from tall oil samples after saponification, acidification, and methylation procedures.
The samples were separated into free fatty acids and resin acids and neutral acids by extracting free acids from a hexane solution of tall oil with 5% NaOH. Fatty acids and resin acids were separated by esterification of fatty acids by the HCl-methanol method. A mixture of fatty acid methyl esters and resin acids was separated by extraction of resin acids with 5% NaOH. The esters were saponified at 343 K for 3.5 h with 0.5 N methanolic KOH solution to release the esters into acids and unsaponifiables.

Tall oil derivatives for treating wood against decay

Temiz, Ali, et al. Bioresource technology 99.7 (2008): 2102-2106.

The effects of two boric acid concentrations and four derivatives of tall oil with different chemical compositions were tested. The tall oil derivatives were chosen in such a way that they consisted of different amounts of free fats, resin acids and neutral compounds. Unleached and leached test samples were tested for decay using two brown rot fungi. Boric acid caused lower weight loss in the test samples when exposed to fungal decay before leaching, but had no effect after leaching. The efficacy of tall oil derivatives against decay fungi was better than the control, but not within the desired efficacy range for wood preservatives. In the leached samples, the efficacy against brown rot fungi was better than that of samples treated with boron alone and was almost similar or better than that of tall oil alone.
The samples were immersed in a small impregnation vessel and a vacuum of 40 mbar was applied for 30 minutes, followed by a pressure of 8 bar for 2 hours, thus ensuring full cell impregnation. After treatment, the wood samples were removed from the treatment solution, gently wiped to remove the remaining solution from the wood surface and weighed. Those non-leached samples used for decay tests were dried at 103 °C for 18 h and weighed. Prior to leaching and decay tests, only the samples used for leaching tests were kept at a constant weight at 65% relative humidity and 22 °C.

Tall oil improves water resistance of cellulose fibers

Hosseinpourpia, Reza, Stergios Adamopoulos, and Charlotte Parsland. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 136.13 (2019): 47303.

The effects of pulping byproducts crude tall oil (CTO), distilled tall oil (DTO), and tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) on dynamic water vapor sorption behavior, interfiber strength, and thermal stability of cellulose paper sheets were evaluated. The results were compared with those obtained with cellulose paper treated with a conventional petroleum-derived hydrophobic agent hydrowax and with untreated cellulose paper. Tall oil treatment resulted in a substantial reduction in the equilibrium moisture content of the paper during both sorption and desorption processes. The results hold promise for the use of tall oil as an alternative hydrophobic agent for cellulose fiber-based products such as wood panels and paper packaging.
For biopolymer treatments, oven-dried (103 °C, 24 h) paper sheets were immersed in crude tall oil (CTO), distilled tall oil (DTO), and tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) for 5 min under ambient conditions to ensure maximum retention of each tall oil type and uniform coverage of all cellulose fibers in the paper. A similar procedure was used to treat paper sheets with petroleum-based hydrowax. The control paper was also immersed in demineralized water. Subsequently, the paper was dried in an oven at 70°C for 72 h.

Evaluation of tall oil for production of green base chemicals

De Bruycker, Ruben, et al.Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 53.48 (2014): 18430-18442.

Crude tall oil (CTO) is a cost-competitive biomaterial. Although CTO is quite different from conventional fossil-derived feedstocks, it proves to be an interesting drop-in alternative for the production of renewable base chemicals. The proposed two-step process, first, converts CTO into a highly paraffinic/naphthenic feedstock by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) over a NiMo catalyst, followed by steam cracking, to produce up to 34 wt % ethylene, 15 wt % propylene, and 5 wt % 1,3-butadiene.
Crude tall oil (CTO) was preheated to about 340 K before being fed to the reactor. It was sulfided with H2S/H2 gas mixture at 673 K for 12 h before the start of the experiment. The reactor was operated at a temperature of 623 K and a hydrogen pressure of 5 MPa. A total of 4 kg of liquid products were produced from CTO. It was carefully separated into aqueous and organic phases using a separatory funnel, as the aqueous phase visibly precipitated at the bottom. The organic phase (HDO-CTO) was collected in a sealed glass bottle and subjected to steam cracking experiments.