Tall oil yield

In Scandinavia where Scots pine is the principal wood material in the kraft pulp industry, a normal yield of tall oil in the northern regions is at least 50 kg/ton of pulp but it is considerably lower in the middle or southern regions. In the United States, southern pines also give a tall oil yield of about 50 kg/ton of pulp whereas only about 30 kg/ton can be recovered from Douglas fir in the industry at the Pacific coast. 

One metric ton of crude tall oil yields about 350 kg of rosin, 300 kg of fatty acids, and 300 kg of head and pitch fractions. For each metric ton of pulp produced, northern pines yield about 50 kg of tall oil, and the southern pines yield about 125 kg. The U.S. capacity for fractional distillation of tall oil is nearly one million metric tons per year. 

Tall oil is not really an oil, but it is often used as an oil or combined with an oil and a resin. Tall oil is a combination of fatty acids and rosin. Normally, it is separated into its different ingredients for use. As a component in alkyds, the fatty acids produce vehicles similar to those made with soybean fatty acids. When limed, tall oil yields a low-cost, high-gloss liquid with poor flexibility that tends to yellow very badly on aging. 

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