Crude Tall Oil (CTO), a by-product of the kraft pulping process used by paper mills, is a mixture of fatty acids, rosin and other neutral materials. The CTO can be fractionated to separate it into the components of tall oil fatty acid, tall oil rosin, distilled tall oil, tall oil pitch and tall oil heads.

(Sweden-based Preem has developed a renewable diesel from tall oil in a process that first esterifies the tall oil through the addition of methanol, then distills the tall oil is distilled in a vacuum to separate the raw tall diesel from the tall oil pitch. Earlier post.)

A 1978 study by researchers in Finland estimated the tall oil pitch yield from the tall oil refining process at between 15-40%, depending upon the quality of the original tall oil. When Nordic CTO is distilled, the yield of pitch is approximately 30% of the dry CTO, according a Neste Oil 2011 patent filing.

Tall oil pitch consists of alcohol esters of fatty and resin acids, oligomers of fatty and resin acids, phytosterols, and hydrocarbons, among other components.

Neste Oil successfully tested tall oil pitch in commercial refinery operations in March-April this year and is now ready to begin using it on a continuous basis. Fuel refined from tall oil pitch will be distributed to service stations in Finland this spring.

Neste Oil’s original pioneering inventions and patents covering the use of tall oil as a biofuel feedstock date back to the 1990s. Neste Oil aims to use significant quantities of tall oil pitch in the future. Tall oil refiners in Finland produce around 100,000 tons of by-product tall oil pitch annually.

Thanks to our research work, we have been able to use tall oil pitch fractions in refining operations for some time; and the recent trial run has now shown that we have the capability to make use of this material on a large-scale basis. This represents a further step in our strategy of extending our feedstock base and increasing our use of waste and residues.

—Dr. Lars Peter Lindfors, Neste Oil’s Senior Vice President, Technology

Neste Oil doubled its use of waste- and residues-based inputs in 2012, and the volume of renewable diesel refined from these materials was equivalent to the annual fuel consumption of some 740,000 cars last year, assuming that 100% renewable diesel is used.

Neste Oil is capable of producing premium-quality renewable diesel on an industrial scale from more than 10 different types of feedstocks. Neste Oil is steadily increasing its use of waste and residues and focusing its research on other non-food inputs and raw materials that can reduce the amount of land needed for energy-related use and significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Resources

• Method Of Producing A Product Based On Vegetable Oil US Patent Application 20110092724

• B. Holmbom, V. Erä (1978) Composition of tall oil pitch Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society Volume 55, Issue 3, pp 342-344