The Technology of Wood Distillation: with Special Reference to the Methods of obtaining the Intermediate and Finished Products from the Primary Distillate

Abstract

THE destructive distillation of wood is one of the earliest industries known to man. The need of charcoal for fuel and for the smelting of iron was the primary aim of the undertaking. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the carbonisation of wood was carried on mainly with the object of furnishing sources of heat and light. At a somewhat later period the industry was in a precarious condition, for coke and tar from coal distillation successfully competed with the related products from wood. The Technology of Wood Distillation: with Special Reference to the Methods of obtaining the Intermediate and Finished Products from the Primary Distillate. By M. Klar. Translated by Dr. Alexander Rule. With an additional Chapter by the Translator. Pp. xv + 496. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1925.) 25s. net.