CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA."-A communication.
Sealed the 24th August 1855, and dated the 26th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th February 1855.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand,
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA " to be as follows:-
This improved method of manufacturing consists of the following opera-
tions: First, a certain quantity of muriate of. sodium (sea salt) is dissolved in
water or in a solution of carbonate of ammonia, their approximate proportion
being about 220 pounds of muriate of sodium for 57 gallons of the liquid
used, in order that the solution may mark 24 degrees by the areometer Beaumić.
Solidified concrete carbonate of ammonia is added to the solution, so as to
contain from about 165 to 176 lbs. for every 220 lbs. of muriate of sodium.
For this operation the solidified or the liquid carbonate of ammonia may
be used, such, as it is obtained by the calcination or the distillation of the
matters producing it, and especially the carbonate of ammonia obtained by

page_text: the calcination of animal matters in close vessels, the whole of the solidified or
concrete carbonate of ammonia which is added to the solution of muriate of
sodium becomes dissolved; when it has been stirred for some time an abundant
precipitate of carbonate of soda in the state of bicarbonate and of sesqui-
carbonate results from the reaction of the carbonate of ammonia on the muriate
of sodium.
The precipitate is collected on filters, and it is obtained saturated with water,
which it has absorbed, and holding in solution, the same as the water produced
by the filtration of the chlorhydrate of ammonia, a part of the carbonate of soda
produced, as well as a portion of undecomposed carbonate of ammonia and
muriate of sodium; so that if this precipitate were dessicated, so as to cause
both the water and the excess of carbonic acid to evaporate under the influence
of a high temperature, a reaction would take place exactly the reverse of that
which has been obtained, and thus we should have chloride of sodium and
carbonate of ammonia; then, independently of the consequent loss of sal-
ammoniac, there would also be with the soda a portion of muriate of sodium,
which would lower its value considerably; it would only mark from 50 to 60
degrees by the alkalimeter of Descroisils. In order to avoid this great objection
it is necessary to remove by regular lexiviations the salts, which reduce the
value of the carbonate of soda, and which have not been carried away by the
previous purifying process. When by successive washings with water containing
a less and less quantity of salts having no affinity with the carbonate of soda,
and when by a last washing with pure water the areometer of Beaumé marks
only from 10 to 11 degrees, the carbonate of soda remaining on the filters is
deprived of other salts, and by removing from it by calcination the water and
the excess of carbonic acid which it contains, salt of soda is obtained averaging
from 92 to 95 degrees, and this calcination serves to decompose the organic
or bituminous matters which may yet exist in the carbonate of soda.
Should it be desired to have very white salt of soda or crystals of soda, it
suffices to lexiviate with boiling water the calcined soda, and to filtrate the
solution which has been obtained; it will then be had white and limpid, and
by concentration it will either give salt of soda or crystals of soda of great
whiteness and purity. The water drained off requires as much care as the
precipitate of carbonate of soda; the water drained off contains the same
salts as the water in the precipitate, and if a similar solution were exposed to
the air for evaporation carbonate of ammonia would be regenerated, which
would evaporate, and the recomposition of the muriate of sodium would take
place.
In order to make the most of the water drained. off, & of the cleansing waters

page_text: that are most impregnated with salts, the three following modi operandi
can be adopted :-
The first is to saturate these two kinds of water with chlorhydric acid or any
suitable chlorhydrate, and by this saturation the carbonate of soda is converted
into chloride of sodium, and the carbonate of ammonia which is not decomposed
into chlorhydrate of ammonia. From that moment there can be no possible
reaction under the influence of a high temperature, and the two salts held in
the two kinds of water above mentioned may be separated by evaporation.
The second way, which is to be preferred when a sufficiently pure carbonato
of ammonia is used, consists in dissolving the muriate of sodium to be
employed for the subsequent operation in the waters drained off, as well as in
the first water used in the washing process of the preceding operation, and
as the salt becomes dissolved the chlorhydrate of ammonia crystallizes if the
temperature does not exceed 16 or 20 degrees (centegrade), and the crystals
are then collected. As for the solution, it is treated by dissolving an
equivalent of bicarbonate of ammonia or an excess of sesqui-carbonate of the
same basis.
The third modus operandi is the most suitable, and consists in submitting to
distillation the waters drained off and the waters first used in the washing; by
this means one may collect in refrigerating apparatus the carbonate of ammonia
remaining free in the two kinds of water above mentioned, as well as that
which has been produced under the influence of the temperature of the
ebullition, and by the reaction of the sal-ammoniac on the carbonate of soda
remaining in solution, it is advisable to make a current of carbonic acid,
produced by the calcination in a close vessel of the bicarbonate of soda,
washed and dessicated or obtained by any other means, to pass in the
refrigeratory apparatus employed for the condensation of the carbonate of
ammonia. When all the carbonate of ammonia which may be obtained is
eliminated, the liquid which is being distilled is decanted, and it contains only
in solution sal-ammoniac and muriate of sodium; these two salts are separated
by the concentration of the successive crystallizations. The sal-ammoniac
obtained may be used for commercial purposes, or employed in the manufacture
of carbonate of ammonia; muriate of sodium and the carbonate of ammonia,
obtained either in the solidified concrete state, or in solution by the distillation
of the waters drained off, or that employed in the washing operation, are to be
treated by the subsequent operations. Thus it is shewn that muriate of sodium
and carbonate of ammonia, which are the raw materials employed, yield as
much carbonate of soda as can be expected.
The sal-ammoniac obtained may be heated by carbonate of calcium in order

page_text: to regenerate the carbonate of ammonia, and in consequence of the latter being
reconstituted, it may serve indefinitely to producing soda, or to make up for the
losses which are incidental to all manipulations, so that with a very limited
quantity of carbonate of ammonia soda might be manufactured in large
quantities, and avoid the production of the chlorhydric acid, which is a great
incommodity to many manufacturers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the
said Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA," (a communication,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say:―

page_text: My improvements in the manufacture of soda consists,―
1st. Instead of submitting the bicarbonate to a certain lixiviation, it is better
to submit the drained bicarbonate to a great pressure, by which means the
major part of the liquid is extracted. If, after this first pressure the
bicarbonate of soda be calcined, a salt of soda is obtained that will mark from
84 to 85 degrees by the alkalimeter. To obtain it at a higher degree, the
compressed bicarbonate of soda is diluted with water and then submitted to a
second pressure. If the bicarbonate be calcined after this, the salt of soda will
mark 92° to 93 degrees. The waters obtained from this second pressure are
as those that result from the first united to the drained water to be distilled.
A third lixiviation followed by a third pressure may be made, and after
calcination the salt of soda obtained will be found to make 95 degrees.
2nd. Instead of employing the carbonate concrete or in solution, I employ,
preferably, bicarbonate of ammoniac and in solution saturated without addition
of concrete carbonate; then to effect the decomposition by means of marine
salt, the latter salt is dissolved in a solution saturated with bicarbonate of
ammoniac. The means I employ to bring the ammoniac and even caustic
solutions to the state of bicarbonate consist in producing carbonic acid with
the aid of a lime furnace heated with coke or charcoal. The gases escaping
from this furnace, composed for the major part of carbonic acid, are brought to
the base of an apparatus known by the name of Clement's tube. On the other
hand, an ammoniac solution is made to descend the upper portion of this tube,
which on arriving to the bottom is transformed into a bicarbonate of ammoniac.
It is requisite that the ammoniac solutions passing down this tube may contain
sufficient animoniac to give a saturated solution when this solution is in the
state of bicarbonate.
3rd. I have shewn that the ammoniac solt may be transformed into
carbonate of ammoniac, but instead of effecting this transformation I prefer
to decompose the ammoniac salt by lime, and to produce by this operation a
solution of ammoniac that I bring to the state of bicarbonate by the means
indicated above.
It is shewn that by means of the decomposition of the ammoniac salt by
lime, and the simultaneous production of lime and carbonic acid, these solutions
are obtained, which render, as I have explained, all the carbonate of soda that
can be obtained.
The series of operations giving this result reconstitute the ammoniac salt
employed to a first operation, and that may serve to produce of the salt of soda
indefinitely, and reconstituting one another without ceasing.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim is,―
First, the means indicated above not to lower the alkalimetrical standard of
the soda, notwithstanding the salts that are mixed with the precipitate of
bicarbonate of soda.
Second, the means indicated to separate the salts that remain in the waters
drained off by the before-mentioned pressures.
Third, the herein-before described process for regenerating the bicarbonate
of ammoniac.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augusto Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 20th day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)