Description:
It is one of the main primary products of wood processing. Along with wood rosin, it is differentiated by method of producing. There are 3 main types:
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gum turpentine,
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steam-distilled wood turpentine,
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sulfate turpentine.
As is the case with wood rosin, gum turpentine is most valuable, only this type of turpentine can be used in medicine. It is derived by distillation of natural oleoresin (gum). In essence this product is a mixture of aromatic oils contained in certain wood.
Steam-distilled wood turpentine, as well as wet-process wood rosin, is derived by gasoline soft wood chips extraction.
Usage:
Sulfate turpentine is mainly produced at pulp and paper plants when cooking wood chips in solution with sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Due to its high toxicity this product cannot be used in medicine, it is widely used in paint-and-varnish industry as a solvent.
Peculiarities:
Turpentine is a light fraction of hydrocarbons. If we compare it with petroleum derivatives it is analogous to kerosene or white spirit, while wood rosin is analogous to bitumen or polymeric petroleum resin. Here we can observe a remarkable capability of petroleum and wood products to replace and complement each other: turpentine is used as a solvent for bitumen mastics, and kerosene or petrol easily dissolve wood rosin. At the same time very often we run across solvents based on both types of products, as for example, white spirit+turpentine to dissolve acrylic paints.
The analysis of market trends clearly shows the substitution of sulfate turpentine for gum turpentine. This situation can be explained by the fact that in parallel with the increase of demand for cellulose products the production of sulfate turpentine escalates as well, its production cost being much lower than that of gum turpentine.
Be careful when making an order for turpentine! Special attention must be given to product requirements and name of the maker. Keep in mind that in its composition technical turpentine often has residual sulfur which is released during the process of making turpentine. Due to chemical activity of sulfur such product is unsuitable for a number of synthetic processes. Common requirement to sulfur content is less than 0.05%; however, sulfur content in turpentine is often 0.5% or more.
Be careful when buying the product. It is not very difficult to carry out tests on sulfur content; in return, if you buy a large batch of product, you will have a guarantee of quality and confidence in the supplier. Having a certain experience in wood chemistry products supply we can advise you to examine the products in advance, to take samples from each batch if possible, to ask to send samples for testing.
Storage:
It is vital to keep watch over the storage time, especially if you repurchase turpentine. Guaranteed storage time of gum turpentine is 6 months after the date of production, and that of sulfate turpentine is only 2 months. That is why you should ask batch numbers, supporting documents, examine container marking and everything that can help you to confirm data on buying.
Technical characteristics of turpentine are given below:
– Gum Turpentine
– Sulfate Turpentine
