The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-27
ACIDS THAT GO TO WASTE.
IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES THAT
MIGHT BE ESTABLISHED HERE.

All of the Elements for Making
Glass Found Close Blythe Manu-
faeture OF sOdns Has a Good Open
fng-Many Industries Which Few
People Think Of
In an article some time ago, the Morning
News showed that Savannah's manufao-
ture Of fertilizers is a very extensive one
employing a capital OF 81 ,0O0oO0, and that
the business is highly remunerative. prov
ing that Savannah has recognized advant-
ages for the successful operation OF ex-
tensive works Of this kind. II showed, too,
that only one half of the fertilizers sold in
Sevannah's market are manufactured here
and that there is ample room for more
factories.
The manufacture of fertilizers is, strictly
speaking, chemical operation or a num-
Der OF such operations on gigantic scale.
The fact that sulphuric acid can be pro-
duced and IS produced here for less than
one-fourth of its quoted market value in
New York is significant. and 1t is still more
so if the large amount Of wasted by-prod-
uct is taken into consideration.
1t is evident that this waste of material
occurring not alone in Savannah. but in all
near by cities. where sulphurlc acid cham
bers are operated, as in Charleston, At
lanta, Columbia and Charlotte, would be
treated Just as economically and as prof.
tably in Savannah as anywhere, as the
working of such plants is similar to those
for the manufacture of phosphates.
produce the acid must use nitrate of soda.
which is imported in large quantities from
Chile. 1t is commonly and briefly called
nitre. and is also used extensively in the
manufacture Of high grade fertilizers.
This nitre is placed in the sulphur furn-
aces in pans with about twice its weight
Of sulphuric acid. This produces nitric
acid vapors, which act as a conveyor OF
oxygen and changes the sulphurods acid
produced by the burning Of sulphur or
pyites, into sulphuric acid provided the
required amount of air and steam are adj
mitted into the lead chamber.
After the nitric acid has escaped The
residue in the nitric pans consists of hi
sulphate Of soda, commonly called nitre
cake.
The three acid chambers in Savannah
waste daily. week days and Sundays. the
year round, from 1000 to 1000 pounds Of
nitre cake. There are probably fifteen
acid chambers within a radius of three
hundred miles of Savannah and the az
gregate amount of nitre cake wasted eX-
| ceeds five tons per day or 1900 tons year.
II any equal quantity of nitre cake and
chloride of sodium or common sea salt
are fused together. the result will be nett
trail sulphate of soda or commonly known
in commerce as salt cake. This salt cake
L. 10 for fe,.+4f
glass and it forms also the first step in the
manufacture of the various grades of The
soda of commerce.
The following statement will give some
idea of the profit that could be derived
from this technical operation:
tons nitre cake q 50 ...................$1 90
tons sea salt q 81 .....................S20 90
Cost of ten tons raw material ......sS5 90
Add for fuel and labor 80 per cent....H 50
Total cost of ten tons salt cake So so
Ten tons of salt cake are worth $1l0 s11
per ton, leave a profit of $3.50, or over
100 per cent.
Three raw materials are necessary for
the manufacture of glass, silica or common
sand, lime and soda. The Savannah river
sand, as 1t is obtainable in immense guam
titles from the back river, is an excellent
source of silica, and can be had very
CHGdDly ny nat lOdus. 1 ne city lIlpOTteQ
$1,000 bushels Of oyster shells for paving;
these shells cost cents per bushel deliver
ed here Oyster shell lime IS almost pure
chemical lime and is well adapted for glass
making, the salt cake would be the cheap
est possible source Of soda. 1t is evident
that as far as the excellence, cheapness
and abundance OF the raw material goes
Savannah has unexceptional favorable in
ducements TO offer for the establishment
OF glass works.
There is a very large demand for glass
bottles in Savannah. The patent medi-
cine and drug trade alone consume half
a million of bottles annually. The brew
cries and soda water botting works also
use hundreds Of thousands of bottles; be-
sides the demand for glass in many and
varied forms is large, both In Savannah
and adjacent territory. If salt cake is
mixed with an equal quantity Of lime or
ground oyster shells and 50 per cent. of
coal dust and this mixture is fused, the
result will be black ash or crude soda All
it needs then is only bleaching and evapor-
ating. Caustic soda, soda ash, carbonate
and bicarbonate of soda can all be pro-
duced from black ash by various treat
ments. The commercial aspect would then
be:
Actual cost of salt cake at $3.50
per ton, 10 Observation-Disclosures. 55 90
Ten tons she'll lime .................... 20 90
Five tons coal dust at 50 ........,... 1000
Cost Of raw material .................. $500
Manufacturing expenses 80 per cent.
more NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. AZ so
Total cost of 90 tons black ash. 80. 1927 80
Twenty-Five to twenty-seven per cent
of the black ash is pure soda, but as the
various soda products of commerce are
either hydrates, carbonates or bicarbon-
ates. at least twice this percentage is a
commercial articles corresponding to
about ten tons of soda worth on an aver
age two cents per pound or 500, less ex
penses of refining, carbonating or con-
centrating, packing, etc. which cannot bc
definitely estimated except by a long am
uninteresting explanatio 1t is. however
quite evident that there would be a very