IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SPENT OXIDE OF IRON OR OXIDE OF IRON WHICH HAS BEEN USED IN GAS WORKS OR OTHERWISE TO SEPARATE SULPHUR FROM SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN, AND IN THE PURIFICATION OF SULPHUR OBTAINED FROM SUCH OXIDE OF IRON
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin Edward Reina
Newlands at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 22nd February 1868.
I, BENJAMIN EDWARD REINA NEWLANDS, F.C.S., of 4, Malvern
Terrace, Charlton, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SPENT OXIDE OF IRON
OR OXIDE OF IRON WHICH HAS BEEN USED IN GAS WORKS OR OTHERWISE TO
SEPARATE SULPHUR FROM SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN, AND IN THE PURIFICATION
OF SULPHUR OBTAINED FROM SUCH OXIDE OF IRON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating spent
oxide of iron or oxide of iron which has been used in gas works or
otherwise to separate sulphur from sulphuretted hydrogen, and in
the purification of sulphur obtained from such oxide of iron.
The sulphur can be dissolved out from' spent oxide of iron by means
of naptha, mineral oils, benzole, or turpentine, but the use of such
solvents generally leaves the oxide of iron in a state unfit for use in
purifying gas or otherwise again to separate sulphur from sulphuretted
hydrogen.

page_text: According to my Invention I fit it to be so re-used by washing it
with bisulphide of carbon, and by this means I separate the remaining
naptha, mineral oils, benzole, or turpentine, and leave the oxide of
iron clean and fit for re-use. I recover the bisulphide which the oxide
absorbs by distillation. Where the oxide of iron has been used for
purifying coal gas after treating it as above described, I wash it with
water, and so obtain a solution which I distil with lime, and I collect
the ammoniacal products which are given off in an acid; or I add
to the solution potash or soda, and evaporate so as to obtain sulpho-
cyanides of potassium or sodium, collecting the ammonia as before. The
washed oxide I further treat with lime and water, and so obtain ferro-
cyanide of calcium, which I either evaporate to obtain crystals or
to which I add carbonate of potash which precipitates the lime, leaving
ferrocyanide of potassium in solution, which I afterwards crystallize out.
When it is not desired to re-use the spent oxide of iron which has
been used for the purification of coal gas, I prepare it to be burnt
in the manufacture of sulphuric acid by washing it with a strong
solution of sulphur in bisulphide of carbon; by this means I separate
tar and other impuri ies, which if left in the oxide cause a large
expenditure of nitre in producing sulphuric acid from it.
Also when sulphur is separated from spent oxide of iron by means
of naptha, mineral oils, benzole, or turpentine, the sulphur remains
much contaminated with the solvent, I, according to my Invention,
remove this contamination by treating it with bisulphide of carbon
or a solution of sulphur in that liquid.
When bisulphide of carbon is used to dissolve sulphur out of spent
oxide of iron, I separate the sulphur from the solvent by adding to
the solution naptha, mineral oils, benzole, or turpentine; the sulphur
may afterwards be washed with bisulphide of carbon or a solution of
sulphur in that liquid. In this case I recover the bisulphide of carbon
by distillation, and the same is the case whenever in the above processes
I obtain a mixture of naptha, mineral oils, benzole, or turpentine, and
bisulphide of carbon.