The Utilisation of the Gases Resulting from Fermentation and from. Lime Kilns for the Production of Alkaline Bicarbonates and of Pure Carbon Dioxide, applicable for Treating Saccharine Matters, the Production of Liquid Carbon Dioxide, and other purposes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Sept., 1895-Accepted, 26th Oct., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by HYPOLYTE MEEUS, of Wyneghem, near.
Antwerp, Belgium, Distiller.]
The Utilisation of the Gases Resulting from Fermentation and from.
Lime Kilns for the Production of Alkaline Bicarbonates and
of Pure Carbon Dioxide, applicable for Treating Saccharine
Matters, the Production of Liquid Carbon Dioxide, and other
purposes.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of London, Consulting Engineer, and Chartered Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
As is known, it is necessary, for effecting the liquefaction of carbon dioxide, to
operate upon such gas more or less completely freed from other gases, and in
particular from air, with which it is generally mixed.
'
When carbon dioxide is mixed with 5 p.c. of air, it is necessary, in order to effect.
its liquefaction, to compress it to a pressure of from 140 to 150 atmospheres, which >
is attended with danger, and not very practicable, while on the other hand the
pure carbon dioxide gas can be liquefied at a pressure of from 50 to 60 atmospheres..
It is therefore necessary to effect the elimination of the air or other gases from the
carbon dioxide when it is desired to obtain this in a liquid state.
The present invention has for its object, the employment of gases evolved from
fermenting vats, whether in distilleries or in breweries, in order to utilise it, after
purifying it from organic impurities, for the production of alkaline bicarbonates
and for the production of pure gaseous or liquid carbon dioxide.
My correspondent also employs for this purpose the gases coming from lime kilns
or other apparatus for calcining calcareous materials.
These gases consist of a mixture of carbon dioxide with nitrogen, air, and carbon
monoxide, in which mixture the carbon dioxide exists to the extent of only
from 20 to 30 p.c. in volume.
In sugar refineries such gases from lime kilos are employed in their natural
state, for the purification or carbonisation of the saccharine juices. According to
the present invention the pure carbon dioxide is extracted from such mixture of
gases and is then employed either in the gaseous or in the liquefied form for the
simple or double carbonisation of saccharine juices and the saccharine products of
the refineries.
For the above purposes the operation is as follows:
The carbon dioxide gas mixed with other gases is drawn from the fermenting
vats or chambers or from the lime kilns by a suction and forcing fan, which causes
it to pass through purifying apparatus, in which the gas is made to pass in intimate
and extended contact with solid or liquid materials of any suitable known kind that will
take up the impurities from the gas. For this purpose are employed; for example
towers or columns filled either with pieces of a solid purifying agent, or with pieces
of coke, pumice-stone, pebbles, or other inert material, or containing perforated
superposed partitions, and a liquid purifying agent is caused to flow down such
towers or columns, which are by the above means made to present a considerable
moistened surface, which is continually renewed, to the gas flowing upward in
1

page_text: contact therewith. The gas to be treated is for this purpose either forced in under
pressure from the bottom of the tower, or it is drawn up through the same by
suction from above.
As the purified gas thus obtained is too poor in carbon dioxide for being directly
liquefied, it is, according to this invention in the first instance employed for the
conversion of neutral alkaline carbonates into bicarbonates either in a solid
condition or in the form of solution, and the bicarbonate thus obtained employed
for the production of pure carbon dioxide by decomposing it in a closed vessel
by means of heat. The carbon dioxide thus obtained only contains a trace of air and
can be readily compressed by ordinary apparatus for obtaining it in a liquefied state.
This gas is of greater purity than the natural gases or gases obtained by the
decomposition of more or less pure natural carbonates by means of sulphuric acid or
hydrochloric acid.
The reactions employed for the purposes of this invention are known; but the
combined operation as above described enables new results to be obtained which
have not been heretofore produced.
The use of the purifying apparatus, columns or towers, above mentioned, enables
the transformation of the gas poor in carbon dioxide into pure carbon dioxide gas to
be effected by means of bicarbonate, which is reduced to a neutral carbonate by
decomposition under the influence of heat, pure carbon dioxide being given off.
The neutral carbonate is again employed in the process, and consequently the
only expenses of the process are those resulting from the losses which necessarily
arise in all processes where substances are regenerated in order to be employed a
great number of times.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The employment of the gases resulting from fermenting processes, and
which contain air and various impurities, for the production of pure carbon
dioxide either in the gaseous or liquid condition, by first purifying the said gases
and then employing them for the production of alkaline bicarbonates, from which
the pure carbon dioxide is obtained by decomposition, substantially as described.
2. The employment for carrying out the process referred to in the first claim, of
the gases generated from lime kilns.
3. The combined processes hereinbefore described for the production of pure
carbon dioxide.
4. The use of the herein before described purifying apparatus, towers or column's
for the treatment of gases to be employed for the production of carbon dioxide,
substantially as set forth.
5. Effecting the extraction from gases poor in carbon dioxide of pure carbon
dioxide gas by the aid of a bicarbonate, which is decomposed under the influence
of beat, resulting in the production of neutral carbonate and of pure carbon dioxide,
substantially as described.
6. The use of pure carbon dioxide produced as herein described for the purifi-
cation and carbonisation of saccharine juices, syrups, and other products of the
sugar refineries.
Dated this 26th day of September 1895.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.