Wood
When wood is heated above 270 °C it begins to carbonize. If air is absent, the final product (since there is no oxygen present to react with the wood) is charcoal. If air (which contains oxygen) is present, the wood will catch fire and burn when it reaches a temperature of about 400–500 °C and the fuel product is wood ash. If wood is heated away from air, first the moisture is driven off. Until this is complete, the wood temperature remains at about 100–110 °C. When the wood is dry its temperature rises, and at about 270 °C, it begins to spontaneously decompose. This is the well known exothermic reaction which takes place in charcoal burning. At this stage evolution of the by-products of wood carbonization starts. These substances are given off gradually as the temperature rises and at about 450 °C the evolution is complete. The solid residue, charcoal, is mainly carbon (about 70%) and small amounts of tarry substances which can be driven off or decomposed completely only by raising the temperature to above about 600 °C.
In the common practice of charcoal burning using internal heating of the charged wood by burning a part of it, all the by-product vapors and gases escape into the atmosphere as smoke. The by-products can be recovered by passing the off-gases through a series of water to yield so-called wood vinegar (pyroligneous acid) and the non-condensible wood gas passes on through the condenser and may be burned to provide heat. The wood gas is only usable as fuel, and consists typically of 17% methane; 2% hydrogen; 23% carbon monoxide; 38% carbon dioxide; 2% oxygen and 18% nitrogen. It has a gas calorific value of about 10.8 MJ/m3 (290 BTU/cu.ft.) i.e. about one third the value of natural gas.[3] When deciduous tree woods are subjected to distillation, the products are methanol (wood alcohol) and charcoal. The distillation of pine wood causes Pine tar and pitch to drip away from the wood and leave behind charcoal. Birch tar from birch bark is a particularly fine tar, known as "Russian oil", suitable for leather protection. The by-products of wood tar are turpentine and charcoal.
Tar kilns are dry distillation ovens, historically used in Scandinavia for producing tar from wood. They were built close to the forest, from limestone or from more primitive holes in the ground. The bottom is sloped into an outlet hole to allow the tar to pour out. The wood is split into dimensions of a finger, stacked densely, and finally covered tight with dirt and moss. If oxygen can enter, the wood might catch fire, and the production would be ruined. On top of this, a fire is stacked and lit. After a few hours, the tar starts to pour out and continues to do so for a few days.