A New or Improved Electrolytic Method of and Apparatus for Saponification.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 29th Jan., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Electrolytic Method of and Apparatus for
Saponification.
We, ALBERT LOUIS CAMILLE NODON, LOUIS ALBERT BRETONNEAU and PAUL
D'ALTON SHEE, of 12, Rue Vivienne, Paris, France, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
At present the manufacture of soap takes place through treating the materials,
whatever they may be, which are to be made into soaps by means of solutions of
free or combined bases.
The different apparatus now in use produce manufactured soaps the price of which
is pretty high, and which are never completely neutral. Moreover the complete
treatment necessitates a series of long and expensive operations.
The apparatus and method about to be described enables us to obtain neutral
soaps and that within a few hours. The apparatus is represented on the accom-
panying drawings where Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus in which
the operation takes place.
Fig. 2 a side view of the agitators or beaters. Our apparatus is composed of a
truncated conical trough A which may be made of masonry, wood, enameled sheet-
iron or other suitable material.
In the centre of the trough is an agitator or beater which is composed of
paddles or blades a provided with recesses b and holes c so as to stir and mix com-
pletely all the matter contained in the trough A; these paddles or blades are
attached to a central spindle B, which is connected with the negative pole of
a source of electric energy. The upper paddles or beaters are provided with bundles
of metallic threads forming, brushes, which brushes are caused to rub incessantly
on the bottoms of the porous vessels D, which they keep free from any foreign
deposit. The surfaces of the agitators or beaters serving as the cathode or negative
pole, can be augmented either by making use of isolated cathodes or of the inner
surfaces of the trough, the whole being connected with the negative pole of the
source of electric energy. A serpentine arrangement of steam or hot water piping,
or any other suitable means of heating is used to keep the temperature of the
bath G contained in the trough A between 90 and 100 degrees centigrade. Vessels
made of porous material D are placed above the bath: they are provided with
plates made of cast-iron L, serving as anodes or positive poles, while the vessels
contain the basic solution to be made into soap. A blow-off cock H, serves to
empty the trough A, when the operation is finished.
The working of our apparatus takes place in the following manner.
Suppose we intend to make soaps from olive oil we pour into the trough water
in which we put oil in sufficient quantity to produce saponification.
In the porous vessels is a solution of soda lye: the agitators or beaters are put
in motion, and the temperature of the hath is kept up to between 90 and 100 degrees
Centigrade. The operation lasts about seven hours the difference of potential
D

page_text: necessary for the working varying between 2 and 4 volt the current required being
about 100 amperes per cubic metre of the material to be made into soap. The
expense electrically is very small and the net cost is below the net cost of the usual
known methods, we have no waste or loss of matter, moreover the soaps we obtain
are entirely neutral.
During the working of the cathode agitators or beaters the current, acting
through the anodes L, bring about the electrolytic combination of the bases,
potash, soda, lime, oxide of lead, or the like, contained in the porous vessels D
with the neutral fats which are contained in the bath A. This combination is
caused by the passage of the current across the bath, which current returns to the
negative pole N, of the source of electric energy after it has passed through
the agitators or beaters, which serve as cathodes. Another result produced by the
current is the decomposition of the ether, the glycerides and the like which are in
the oils or fats, thus producing a neutral soap.
The soap obtained by the above described apparatus is then by means of the usual
methods employed brought into receptacles where it is cooled down, after which
it is divided into pieces, stamped, and prepared in its commercial form.
"In some cases owing to the nature of the neutral fat employed it may become
necessary to use 'an excess of alkali, this excess will be remedied in the manufacture
by producing an inverse electrolysis, that is to say the anode will become the
cathode and vice versa.
The apparatus herein described can be used for all kinds of saponification.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:
}
1) The electrolytic process of saponification substantially as set forth.
2) The apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
3) The arrangement and combination of parts substantially as and for the
purposes described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of Narambor 1807

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