IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AMMONIA AND AMMONIACAL SALTS FROM URINE, SEWAGE, AND THE LIKE, AND FROM OTHER AMMONIACAL OR NITROGENOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING AMMONIA AND AMMONIACAL SALTS FROM URINE, SEWAGE, AND THE
LIKE, AND FROM OTHER AMMONIACAL OR NITROGENOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." A communication from abroad by Raoul
Brullé, and Auguste Leclerc, both of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Chemists
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th March 1880.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AMMONIA AND AMMONIACAL SALTS
FROM URINE, SEWAGE, AND THE LIKE, AND FROM OTHER AMMONIACAL OR
" A com-
NITROGENOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
munication from abroad by Raoul Brullé and Auguste Leclerc, both of Paris, in the
Republic of France, Chemists.
This Invention relates to the production of ammonia and ammoniacal salts from
urine, sewage, and the like, and in general from all ammoniacal or nitrogenous
liquids.
In carrying out this Invention the distillation by ebullition at atmospheric
pressure is dispensed with, and the liquid to be treated is caused to flow in a
uniform stream in thin sheets over a heated surface and exposed to a current of
air, whereby the free ammonia or carbonate of ammonia is extracted. The
temperature of the thin sheet of liquid may vary from seventy to ninety degrees,
according to the richness of the ammoniacal solution and the rate of speed.
By these means a considerable saving in fuel is effected, as this operation does
not depend upon the vaporization of the water.
When the nitrogenous compositions are fixed the nitrogen is extracted in the
form of ammonia by means of milk of lime the ammonia remains dissolved in the
surrounding liquid, and this liquid is then subjected to the improved process.
In applying the Invention to the treatment of night soil, for example, the fecal
matter in a solid or liquid form contained in a suitable reservoir or settling tank is
treated with lime (in the proportion of, say, from about twenty five to fifty pounds

page_text: of lime to a ton of liquid), which precipitates the soluble alkaline phosphates in
the liquid in the condition of an insoluble phosphate of lime (Ph 05 3 Ca 0)|
and allowed to settle. During this time the ammonia is liberated by the fermen-
tation of the urinous liquid and by the action of the lime upon the nitrogenous
matter, but remains in solution in the liquid. After decantation the solid residuum
is dried and forms a good manure, whilst the liquid decanted is treated in an
apparatus next hereinafter described.
This apparatus consists of a shallow flat bottomed metal chamber hermetically
closed at its upper part, and provided with transverse vertical partitions which act
as buffer plates, and extend alternately from one side of the chamber to nearly the
opposite side. This chamber presents a large surface for the flow of the liquid and
inclines slightly towards one end, and is provided with a false bottom or other
convenient arrangement to enable it to be heated at the lower part by steam or
otherwise. The ammoniacal liquid contained in a suitable reservoir is conducted
to the upper end of the shallow chamber by means of a pipe provided with a
stopcock and any suitable arrangements for regulating the flow of the liquid. A
suitable outlet is provided at the lower end of the chamber for the escape of the
liquid after parting with its ammonia. Air is admitted to the chamber at the lower
end, and a hole in the cover at the upper end of the chamber communicates with a
pipe for the escape of the mixture of air and aminonia, and terminating in a rose
or perforated bulb in a vessel containing sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. A
thermometer is also provided in the cover of the chamber.
In working this apparatus the ammoniacal liquid is caused to pass into the upper
end of the shallow metal chamber, herein before described, and flows along the
heated bottom in a thin sheet towards the lower end, being caused to flow in a
zigzag direction, passing alternately from one side of the chamber to the other by
means of the partitions acting as baffle plates. During its passage the liquid is
heated to, say, from seventy to ninety degrees centigrade according to its speed
and richness in ammonia, and is exposed to the action of a current of air produced
by any suitable compressing or exhausting apparatus. This air passes through the
flat bottomed chamber in an opposite direction to the flow of the liquid, and the
ammonia contained in the latter is diffused in the air and is carried away with it
to the vessel hereinbefore referred to containing sulphuric or hydrochloric acid,
where the ammonia is absorbed by the said acid, whilst the liquid deprived of its
ammonia escapes at the lower end of the chamber through a sealed pipe.
In certain cases it will be desirable to cause the mixture of air and aminonia to
pass through a refrigerator or condenser after leaving the chamber before it enters
the vessel containing the acid, and the form and dimensions of the apparatus may
be modified according to the nature, volume, and richness of the liquids treated.
The liquids may also be heated in vacuo, and tho waste heat from the apparatus
may be utilized either for the dessiccation of the ammoniacal salts produced or for
heating the liquids before their admission to the flat bottomed chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
September 1880.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AMMONIA AND AMMONIACAL SALTS
FROM URINE, SEWAGE, AND THE LIKE, AND FROM OTHER AMMONIACAL OR
A com-
NITROGENOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
munication from abroad by Raoul Brullé and Auguste Leclerc, both of Paris, in
the Republic of France.
The said Invention relates to the production of ammonia and ammoniacal salts
from urine, sewage, and the like, and in general from all ammoniacal or nitrogenous
liquids, and it consists of an improved process based upon the following principles,
videlicet:-
According to the methods of treatment heretofore employed, free or carbonated
ammonia in solution can be entirely extracted only by a prolonged ebullition at a
temperature of one hundred degrees centigrade, which involves the distillation of a
considerable quantity of liquid. It has however been ascertained that if the
ammoniacal solution is caused to flow in thin sheets at a given rate of speed over a
surface heated to a temperature lower than one hundred degrees, and exposed to a
current of air travelling in an opposite direction to the liquid, the whole of the free
or carbonated ammonia is extracted and carried away by the air. The temperature
of the thin sheet of liquid may vary from seventy to ninety degrees, according to
the richness of the ammoniacal solution and the rate of speed.
According to the present Invention therefore the distillation by ebullition at
atmospheric pressure is dispensed with, and the liquid to be treated is caused to
flow in a uniform stream in thin sheets over a heated surface, and exposed to a
current of air.
When the nitrogenous compositions are fixed, the nitrogen is first extracted in
the form of ammonia by means of milk of lime; the ammonia remains dissolved in
the surrounding liquid, which is then subjected to the improved process.
The Invention is applicable to the extraction of the ammonia contained in urine,
sewage, and all other liquids containing nitrogenous compositions.
In applying the Invention to the treatment of night soil, for example, the fecal
matter in a solid or liquid form contained in a suitable reservoir or settling tank is
treated in the first place with lime (in the proportion of, say, from about twenty five to
fifty pounds of lime to a ton of the liquid); by this treatment the soluble alkaline
phosphates in the liquid are precipitated in the condition of an insoluble phosphate
of lime, and the whole is then allowed to settle. During this time the ammonia is
liberated by the fermentation of the urinous liquid, and by the action of the lime
upon the nitrogenous matter, but remains in solution in the liquid.
decantation the solid residuum is dried and forms a good manure, whilst the liquid
decanted is treated in an apparatus hereinafter described.
After
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in both the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents an elevation partly in section
of an apparatus constructed according to this Invention, and Figure 2 is a horizontal
section taken along the line 1-2, Figure 1.
A boiler A of any suitable construction is surmounted by a hollow column or
dome B, which contains a number of shallow flat bottomed metal cases or chambers
M. hermetically closed, and provided with transverse vertical partitions C arranged
as shown in Figure 2. These chambers are slightly inclined, and communicate at

page_text: their upper extremities with a closed cistern k, by means of a corresponding
number of pipes ; the cistern k is connected with a closed vessel g by a pipe k
provided with valves or cocks i and ; a pipe c is passed through the cover of
the vessel g, and debouches at one extremity near the bottom of the said chamber
whilst the other extremity of the said pipe forms a worm c¹ which is contained in a
vessel or chamber d, and communicates with a pump b, the latter being connected
to a tank or reservoir a containing ammoniacal liquid obtained as hereinbefore
described.
The upper extremities of the chambers M are also connected with a pipe m
terminating in a worm m³ contained in a refrigerator p, and communicating with
the upper part of a chamber 8. This chamber also communicates at its upper part
with a pipe t terminating in a perforated bulb or rose t¹ immersed in sulphuric acid
contained in a vessel k. The lower part of the chamber 8 is provided with a sealed
piper, the lower extremity of which is plunged in water contained in a vessel 2º¹.
The lower extremities of the chambers M are connected by branch pipes n to a
main pipe which encloses a portion of the pipe c, and terminates in a pipe e
debouching at the lower part of the vessel d.
In working this apparatus the ammoniacal liquid is drawn from the.reservoir a
by the pump b, and is caused to pass through the worm c¹ and pipe c, where it
undergoes a preliminary heating, as hereinafter described, and then enters the vessel
g, where its temperature is raised to, say, from seventy to ninety degrees centigrade,
according to the proportion of ammonia in the liquid, by means of a worm H,
which is supplied with steam from the column B by a pipe h. The steam when
condensed in the worm H by the relative coolness of the liquid is returned to the
boiler through a pipe h¹. After being heated to the proper temperature in the
vessel 9, the liquid is allowed to pass through the pipe k¹, by opening the valves or
cocks and which regulate the passage, and enters the cistern k, whence it is
uniformly distributed to the chambers M by means of the pipes. 7, the upper
extremities of which are arranged in the same horizontal plane, as shewn in the
Drawing. These chambers are maintained at the proper temperature by the steam
from the boiler A, and are slightly inclined, as herein before described, so that the
liquid entering through the pipes at their upper extremities flows along the
heated bottoms of the chambers in a thin sheet towards the lower extremity, being
at the same time caused to flow in a zigzac direction, passing alternately from one
side of the chamber to the other by means of the partitions C acting as baffle
plates. At the same time a current of air is caused to pass through the chambers M
in the opposite direction to the course of the liquid, the air being supplied by a fan
or blower or other suitable exhausting or compressing apparatus, not shewn in the
Drawing, through a main pipe E, communicating with the lower extremities of the
chambers M by means of branch pipes o. The ammonia in the liquid is absorbed
by this current of air being carried by it to the upper extremities of the chambers M,
where the air, which at this point is charged with ammoniacal gas and steam, passes
into the pipe m and worm m³ in the refrigerator p, which is maintained at a
uniform temperature of about sixty five degrees centigrade. A portion of the
steam is thereby condensed in the worm without carrying away any ammonia,
because the latter is not capable of being retained in water at a temperature of
sixty degrees. The water of condensation and the vapours then pass into the
chamber 8, and the water escapes through the pipe r into the vessel r', whilst the
air with the uncondensed steam and ammonia passes through the tube t and
perforated bulb t¹ into the sulphuric acid in the vessel K, where the acid combines a
with and absorbs the ammonia.
The liquid after parting with its ammonia in the chambers M, as hereinbefore
described, passes through the branch pipes n into the main f, where it serves to
raise the temperature-of-the-liquid passing through the pipe c, after which it
passes through the pipe e into the vessel d, where it effects the preliminary heating 5
of the liquid in the worm c¹.
It is evident that the number of the chambers M will vary according to the

page_text: quantity of liquid employed. The surplus heat contained in the liquid and steam
on leaving the apparatus may also be utilized for desiccating the ammoniacal salts
obtained, as hereinbefore described.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. The employment of a current of air in extracting ammonia from urine,
sewage, and other liquids containing "nitrogenous compounds, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
Secondly. The apparatus employed for the said extraction, constructed and
arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly. The utilization of the waste heat from the apparatus for the purpose of
desiccating the ammoniacal salts produced, as well as for the preliminary heating of
the liquid before it is admitted into the separating chambers, substantially as
herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my Speci-
fication set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)