Tall Oil

tall oil [′täl ‚ȯil]

(materials)

A yellow-black, malodorous, resinous admixture of rosin, fatty acids, sterols, high-molecular-weight alcohols, and other materials, derived from wood-pulping waste liquors; used in paint drying oils, alkyd resins, linoleum, soaps, lubricants, and greases. Also known as liquid rosin; tallol.

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Tall Oil 

(also tallol, liquid rosin), a dark viscous liquid with a density of 0.96–0.99 g/cm³ that is obtained from the decomposition by sulfuric acid of sulfate soap—a by-product of the sulfate pulping of cellulose. Crude tall oil is 30–50 percent rosin acids (C₁₉H₂₉COOH) and 35–55 percent fatty acids, including palmitic acid (C₁₅H₃₁COOH), oleic acid (C₁₇H₃₃COOH), and linolenic acid (C₁₇H₂₉COOH). It also contains neutral substances, moisture, a small quantity of sulfur compounds, and substances (oxidized) insoluble in petroleum ether. The percentages of the principal components can vary, depending on the type of wood used.

Crude tall oil is used to obtain tall-oil rosin and tall-oil fatty acids; small quantities are used as foaming agents in the dressing of ores. Refined tall oil is used in the paint and varnish industry to manufacture drying oils, mastics, and paints. Production of crude tall oil in the USSR was 95,000 tons in 1974.

REFERENCES

Komshilov, N. F. Kanifol’, ee sostav i stroenie smolianykh kislot. Moscow, 1965.
Bogomolov, B. D., and A. A. Sokolova. Pobochnye produkty sul’fatnotselliuloznogo proizvodstva. Moscow, 1962.

P. P. POLIAKOV