IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR RECOVERING OIL AND OTHER USEFUL MATTERS FROM SOAPSUDS OR SCOURINGS AND FROM OTHER WASTE WATERS RESULTING FROM MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO THE TREATMENT OF OTHER MATTERS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Caldwell Lee at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th March 1872.
I, JOSEPH CALDWELL LEE, of Littleborough, in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR RECOVERING OIL AND OTHER USEFUL
MATTERS FROM SOAPSUDS OR SCOURINGS AND FROM OTHER WASTE WATERS
RESULTING FROM MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, APPLICABLE IN PART TO THE
TREATMENT OF OTHER MATTERS," to be as follows:-
:―
My Invention relates more particularly to the soapsuds or scourings
resulting from the scouring of wool or of woollen cloth and from other
manufacturing processes, but is also applicable wholly or in part to
other waste waters and to other matters, which will be indicated herein-
after, and has for its object to recover oil and other useful matters from
the said soapsuds, scourings, or waste waters. The said suds or scourings
arc run into tanks or vessels, and are agitated with the addition of
acid until the fatty acids are liberated in the form ordinarily termed
magma."
When using sulphuric acid it is of importance to employ it in
a diluted state, in order that the fatty acids may not be carbonized. I

page_text: prefer to use the exact quantity of acid required to liberate the fatty
acid as nearly as is practicable, and I therefore add the acid by degrees and
preferably by sprinkling the acid over the entire surface of the liquid.
during the agitation of the said liquid, and I cease to add acid so soon
gas te ordinary tests indicate the presence of free acid in the said
liquid. This part of the process may be expedited by the application
of heat to the said liquid during and after the addition of the acid.
In lieu of acid any base or salt which will combine with the fatty
acid and form therewith an insoluble soap may be added to the said
liquid. In such a case an acid will have to be used to liberate the
fatty acids from the said, insoluble soap. The water having been run
off the said magma is placed on filters, in order that the water or the
greater part of the water it retains may be discharged. The said magma
is now subjected to pressure with the aid of heat, as in the ordinary
preparation of stearic acid, until the fatty acids are separated from the
said magma. For this purpose I prefer to use superheated steam. The
said fatty acids are now subjected to the ordinary treatment with acid,
and subsequently with alkali, and are then distilled, and in order that
the products may not be injured or discoloured by contact with the iron
of which the still is made I line or partially line the said still and
the still neck with a metal or with metals, or with an alloy or with
alloys, not liable to be acted upon to any great extent by the said fatty
acids, such as for example, with brass aluminum, aluminum bronze,
nickel, zinc, or platinum, or I wholly or partially form the said still
and still neck of such metal or metals, or alloy or alloys. I may make
the " worm "of nickel aluminum or aluminum bronze.
In order to expedite the process of distillation, I employ a jet of steam,
or a fan or exhauster to discharge or withdraw the vapours from the
still as they are formed; any vapours or gases which cannot conveniently
be condensed being discharged by the action of the said jet, fan, or
exhauster into the outer atmosphere or into a chimney or into a furnace
in which the said gases or vapours may be consumed, or a second jet
or other jets may be employed to effect the said discharge of the said
gases or vapours.
This part of my Invention is applicable in the distillation of fatty
acids otherwise obtained, and of mineral oils, petroleum, and similar
matters. The residue left in the still may be mixed with mineral oil,
or with other matter or matters which will render it fit to act as a

page_text: For this
lubricant, or may be treated with an alkali in order to extract any fatty
acids which it may contain; the said acids being recovered by the means
herein-before indicated. The water run off from the fatty acids, as
herein aforesaid, may be suitably treated to neutralise any free acid
which it may contain; I evaporate the said water in a fixed or revolving
vacuum pan or boiler until a dry or nearly dry residue is left.
purpose I consider the evaporating apparatus described in the Specifi-
cation of a Patent granted to me on the First day of April in the year
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine to be very suitable. The
residue so obtained may be used as a fertiliser, either alone or after having
been mixed with other matter or matters or salts, or useful products
may be extracted from the said residue by chemical treatment. Waste
waters not containing oil or fatty acids may be evaporated in the same
or in a similar manner, and by the same means a comparatively dry,
inoffensive, and portable fertilising agent may be produced from sewage,
blood, stale fish, and other like matters. The matters separated from
the fatty acids by pressure may be decomposed in retorts with or without
the addition of an alkaline substance or of alkaline substances in order
to convert the nitrogen contained in the said matters into ammonia or
into carbonate of ammonia.