IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACTIC ACID AND LACTATES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of Kensington, Middlesex, for an.
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACTIC ACID AND
LACTATES." A communication from abroad by Charles Ellery Avery, of
Boston, United States of America, Chemist.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Herbert John Haddan at the
. Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th July 1881.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of Kensington, Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LACTIC ACID AND LACTATES." A communication from abroad
by Charles Ellery Avery, of Boston, United States of America, Chemist.
.
This Invention relates to the manufacture of lactic acid and the lactates, as will
be more fully set forth hereinafter. Hitherto the lactic fermentation has been of
an almost insupportable odour and the manufacture of lactates a nuisance,
involving a considerable outlay of time and expense in the subsequent necessary
purification. The time hitherto required for fermentation has been from ten days
to several weeks. By my process the fermentation is completed in from two to
four days, and hence it is carried out without putrefactive fermentation and its
noxious odours, and with little or no butyric fermentation and its waste of
material. In carrying out my Invention I take a vegetable fermentable sugar
(such as sucrose, dextrose, levulose, or maltose), which may be derived from sugar,
starch, or other suitable source by the ordinary means, and add thereto water,
preferably in the proportion of 1000 pounds of fermentable sugar to 6000 pounds
of water, though I do not confine myself to any exact proportions. To the mixture
I add vegetable matter containing nitrogenous matter, about 100 pounds of
nitrogenous matter of vegetable origin to the quantity of sugar and water above
named being a good proportion. It is desirable that the vegetable matter be finely
divided, and that a portion of the nitrogenous matter be soluble in water. To the
above liquid I next add a portion of matter already in active lactic fermentation,
as conducted in the ordinary manner; or I may take a previous fermentation of
the same composition as that herein described, and containing the living beings

page_text: which cause that fermentation. From one to ten per cent. of the entire quantity
of the liquid will give good results. I usually keep the solution during fermentation
between 120° F. and 80° F., preferring to ferment at from 95° F. to 105° F. Lactic
acid being thus formed at the expense of the sugar, and as fast as the acid is
formed I neutralize it. The neutralizing substance used may be the carbonate of
soda, potash, lime, magnesia, or zinc; the oxides of lime, magnesia, or zinc, or the
hydrates of soda, potash, lime, magnesia, or zinc. If strongly alkaline substances are
used they must be added cautiously and only in such quantity as to neutralize the
acid already formed. If faintly alkaline bodies be used, such as carbonate of lime,
the full amount required may be added in fine powder at once. For the mixture
already described 500 pounds of carbonate of lime in fine powder is sufficient, or a
chemically equivalent quantity' of any of the other neutralizers. In this latter case
the advantage of the use of carbonate of lime is that as the acid is developed in the
liquid it seizes upon a portion of the lime-base, and the acid is thus neutralized,
and this going on gradually and continuously becomes.self-regulating, and obviates
the necessity of continual additions of the neutralizing substance. I prefer to
derive the sugar and the nitrogenous matter above referred to from the same source,
using by preference meal or flour of Indian corn, or other grains, as above stated.
The starch contained in the meal is changed to sugar by acids, or diastate, or other
zygmose, and the residue supplies the requisite vegetable nitrogenous matter. Sugar,
beet-root sugar-melon, sugar-cane, corn-stalks, grapes, and other fruit may be
employed, and the refuse will furnish the vegetable nitrogenous matter. I am
aware that I am not the first to ferment sugar with vegetable nitrogenous matter
derived from other than cereals, as this is done in the manufacture of sauer-kraut,
but so far as I am aware I am the first to add a neutralizer to the mixture in order
that it may ferment quickly and thoroughly, and be easily and cheaply purified.
By my process putrefaction is prevented, and I am enabled to avoid butyric,
viscous, and mannitic fermentations, and the moulds incidental to the processes
hitherto in use. It is to be observed that my process of the manufacture of lactic
acid and the lactates may be carried on without the addition or presence of cheese,
or any animal nitrogenous matter heretofore used for the purpose of developing
lactic acid in fermentescible. liquids, the result of which was the development and
escape of various ethers and higher homologues of the fermenting body, which was
accompanied by unpleasant and insalubrious odours, and which has rendered such
factories a nuisance, and this constitutes a chief feature of my Invention.
Having thus described my Invention, I claim,
The method of manufacturing lactic acid and lactates by the fermentation of a
sugar of vegetable origin, with a lactic ferment, in the presence of nitrogenous
matters chiefly of vegetable origin, and of a substance suitable to gradually
neutralize the acid as fast as formed, as, set forth, whereby time is economized,
putrefaction prevented, and purification rendered simple and inexpensive.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert John Haddan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of July, A.D., 1881. ·
H. J. HADDAN. (L.S.)