Compact Unit for the Continuous Distillation of Hardwood and Recovery of Byproducts. Final Technical Report

摘要

This is the final report on a grant to design and to build a wood distillation unit which could be operated with a minimum of labor, using locally available hardwood as raw material. This wood distillation unit would be compact and simple in its components, sturdy in construction, reasonably low priced, and easy to assemble and disassemble for its relocation from one area to another in the State. A prototype became operational in January 1982. It was run at first in a closed shed rented in the Town of Milton, 22 miles north of Burlington, Vermont. A pallet manufacturer in the same town supplied the hardwood wastes used in the prototype retort. At this time, we designed and built a low cost solar wood dryer used to store the wood blocks which fed the distillation unit; these blocks were cut from the hardwood wastes. The results with the prototype retort indicated that a new approach should be adopted in the design and construction of the large distillation unit. Several adjustments and improvements had to be made in the course of the following weeks, especially to the burner system. At the beginning only short runs at one third of the retort capacity were conducted. By October 1st, we reached 50% of total capacity. Distillation runs with temperatures over 600 exp 0 F were achieved by October 16. At that time, a crack was noticed and quickly repaired on the welding line of the retort. Distillation tests were conducted on the condensate by using a large glass column (800 mm x 50 mm) connected to an air condenser and to a 3 liters flask. Fractions boiling over 103 exp 0 C were thus separated from lower boiling fractions. If necessary, this semilab distillation column could be modified to separate fractions boiling at different temperatures. By November 24, the last distillation was run, and five days later we discharged the last mass of charcoal. (ERA citation 11:000289)