Improvements in the Treatment and Manufacture of Manure, and in · Preservatives and Disinfectants for Manure.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Nov., 1895, Accepted, 21st Dec., 1895
Improvements in the Treatment and Manufacture of Manure, and in
· Preservatives and Disinfectants for Manure.
We, LERERECHT TRALLS of Turn, near Teplitz; Bohemia, in the Empire of
Austria, Mine Superintendent, and EDUARD. BURMEISTER of 16 Brandswicte,
Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany, Merchant,,do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what mannon the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in. and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the treatment of manure and to the production andluse
of preservatives and' disinfectants. for fixing in manure in a cheap and efficacious
manuer the volatile ammonium carbonate, and for obtaining undecomposed
nitrogenous substances as proteine substances and uric acid-compounds in natural'
mantires as such and simultaneously checking the emanation of evil smelling and'
insanitary miasmata as well as to kill or prevent the development of the nitrogen,
devouring bacteria, germ microbes, larva and' grubs and other parasites developed
from manure, which bacteria form ammonia, or produce the decomposition of
organic substances.
The manure preserving materials hitherto employed do not admit of a universal
application for preventing the main and most valuable element of all plant
Bourishing substances in manure (namely nitrogen) from escaping uselessly into
the air, because such preservative materials are too dear, and their handling when
in use much too inconvenient and their use is not without danger to men and'
animals.
It is well known that free sulphuric acid fixes ammonia in stable manure, but in
its use the before mentioned difficulties are encountered; it also found that
sulphuric acid combined' with lime, alumina, oxide of iron and the like Has the
property of fixing ammonia or decomposing ammonium carbonate into ammonium
sulphate but its use has various defects, the removal of which we bare endeavoured
to effect as will hereinafter be described. Sulphate of lime (gypsum) is frequently
employed as a binding material for ammonia on account of the facility with. which
it is handled, and of its good effect, but it does not prevent the action of
bacteria.
The other sulphates have again the especially troublesome property of attracting
water from the air which, apart from costliness, entirely excludes their utilisation
as a powder which can be dusted or scattered. In the same way the drying of the
sulphate manures (more particularly those derived from dried human. excrement,
in order to produce them on a commercial. scale as a permanent dry ammoniacal
sulphate manure and which is the object of this invention) is very difficult and
usually impossible because the actual means for drying them and for keeping them
dry, are wanting, both where free sulphuric acid and also sulphates are used.
This invention removes all the drawbacks which hitherto did not.admit of the
general use of manure preservatives, and it. thus fulfils the principal requirements
of agriculture, namely, a cheaper source of supply, a perfect action and convenience
in handling.
The manufacture and use of the manure preservative or ammonia fixing

page_text: As raw materials there are employed for this purpose-
a) The ashes of fuel of all kinds which remain after the heating power has
been utilised in furnaces or fireplaces, or by the accidental burning of waste
material in the open air, or by the intentional or special combustion of
vegetable growths, and
b) Sulphuric acid..
The ashes, according to the kind of organic substances burnt, contain various
substances of different compositions, having as bases, alumina, iron oxide, magnesia,
soda, calcium, potash, and containing acids, phosphoric, silicic, hydrochloric and
sometimes also sulphuric and carbonic acids, and other substances such as
unconsumed carbon, clay, earth and the like.
The ashes are treated with sulphuric acid preferably diluted to 5 to 10° Beaumé,
the sulphuric acid combines with the bases contained to form salts. As however the
composition of the ashes is very different, an exact scale as to the composition or
admixture which takes place cannot be given. Ashes from house stoves, resulting
from the combustion of brown coal therein, combine with about 50% of sulphuric
acid. In mixing the above merely known chemical proportions should be
employed, but it is not important whether a small excess of free sulphuric acid be
present or whether a small excess of unsaturated bases remain.
The dilute sulphate ashes thus obtained are dried rapidly in the air but they
may, however, in order to accelerate the drying, be evaporated by means of steam
or on a fire.
Sulphuric acid combined with alumina and iron oxide is of special importance for
fixing ammonia. But it would be an error to make an extract of the sulphate
ashes and then to evaporate the extract and to utilise the substance obtained
(after reduction by a strong heat to a dehydrated condition) as a powder which
oan be dusted for fixing the ammonia, as this powder would again absorb in a very
short time so much water from the atmosphere that it would form a pasty mass
and would thus be rendered unsuitable for the object we have in view,.us it is the
residues which do not dissolve which are precisely those which proveut the
absorption of water, and further. these contain also useful substauces which
successively decompose the ground and assist the manuring of the fields.
These sulphate ashes tormi as already stated a powder which remains dry in the
air and form when strewed on the ground, nitrogenous moor and humus earth and
even by themselves form a manurial clement apart from their further use for the
following purpose as they decompose latent organic substances, loosen clayey
ground, supply the wauting acid and fix the ammonia in the ground. When
placed in compost heaps the sulphate ashes decompose vegetable substances,
simultaneously developing earth salts.
2. THE USE OF SULPHATE ASHES FOR FIXING AMMONIA OR FOR PRESERVING
MANURE AND FOR DISINFECTING PURPOSES.
.
The sulphate ashes form a coberent whole in which no member exists in vain for
the object which is here bad in view.
The resulting sulphates as sulphate of alumina, ferric sulphate; oxide of iron
and sulphate of lime (gypsum) have to the highest extent the property of lixing
ammonia in ammoniacal substances, such as stable manure and solid or liquid
excrement, or the like, or in other words to convert the liquid carbonate of
ammonia into. non-volatile sulphate of ammonia, and further to preserve as such

page_text: more particularly in liquid manure and which are as easily decomposable as they
are valuable for plant nourishment.
.
The sulphate ashes are strewed' and mixed in the stables manure heaps in the
liquid manure troughs or ditches. The sulphate ashes must be added to the
manure, when the latter is in a wet condition, as a chemical combination of
the substances in the above named innnner, is only this possible.
"
It is advisable to give the manure a liberal quantity of sulphate ashes as the
excess will still be utilised in the ground.
1
In the case of solid manure an admixture of about 5% of sulphate ashes
suffices and in the case of liquid substances the thorough saturation affords a guide,
when the mass ceases to foain.
After the proper treatment of the manure materiale, it is advisable to dry
the mixture, and then to shake out of it the long straw which can be again
employed. The dry manure has become a permanent salt which no longer allows
ammonia to escape into the air. This salt may then be strewed directly on the
fields in the same way as guano and nitrate of soda. The farmer will by this
means benefit considerably as he will no longer require to cart onto the fields such
a large amount of water locked up in the manure.
In thickly populated districts, for instance in large towns, public schools, barracks,
and the like, the aminoniacal fumes of human excrement may accumulate up to a
poisonous point and moreover the mounds of exorement may become a troublesome
burden. By the use of the sulphate ashes a remedy is provided; these ashes may
be placed distributed or mixed in sinks, drains, sewers, closets and such places,
where vegetable and animal substances accumulate. The ainmonia is bound or fixed in
the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and the mixture may then be dried and brought
into commerce as a very effective manurial substance, as it contains all the materials
for nourishing plants. The dried substance formis a grey powder which no longer
reminds you of its former origin.
It is quite evident that bacteria and other deleterious organisms cannot live in
It is also evident that
the presence of acid re-acting substances in the excrement.
by the conversion of the ammonia, the, to the highest extent unhealthy, emanations
are almost entirely prevented.
The sulphuric acid combined with alumina and iron oxide possesses a stronger
chemical affinity for ammonia than for those bases. The sulphuric acid leaves
the said bases and passes over to the carbonate of ammonia present, carbonic
acid escaping which causes the foaming or frothing. The released oxides, alumina
and iron form the constituents of the sulphates which are insoluble in water but
it is the sulphates which effect a slight drying of and a permanent maintenance of
dryness in the permanent salt produced.
This substance combines with the organic substances of the manure salt as a
homogeneous mass which effects an easy decomposition of the mixture in the
ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An improved manure preservative and disinfectant, consisting of ashes of
burnt materials of all kinds, and sulphuric acid, formed as a distributable powder
which remains dry in the air (so called "sulphate ashes") the bases contained in
the ashes being saturated with sulphuric acid diluted to about 10° Beaumé,
and this mixture afterwards supersaturated with sulphuric acid substantially as
set forth.
2. Sulphate ashes formed substantially as set forth as a powder capable of
being distributed directly as a manure on account of the plant foods contained
in the ashes and locked up by means of sulphuric acid, and of the sulphuric acid
combined with alumina and iron oxide, which in combination with the resultant

page_text: sulphate of lime has the property of fixing the ammonia in the ground,, replacing
the humus, furnishing the wanting sulphuric acids and loosening, clayey ground.
3. The use of sulphate.asbes formed substantially, as. set forth as a distributable
powder in, stable manure,, liquid manure, human) excrement, and places where:
vegetable and animal substances are: placed to-decay, with the object of fixing the.
ammonia, preserving the manure and disinfecting; it.
4. The improvement in the treatment of manure,, consisting in. mixing therewith
a powder prepared from ashes of burnt materials and sulphuric acid substantially
as, hereinbefore described in order to allow of the. manure being dried in the manner
set forth..
5. A compound for use as a very effective distributable. ammoniacal manure
containing other plant foods, obtained by treating, stable, manure,. liquid manure,
human excrement and decayed vegetable and animal substances with sulphate ashos
and drying, substantially as set forth..
Dated this 12th day of November 1895.
LLEWELYN JONES,
Liverpool, Agent for the Applicants.
LLEWELYN JONES,
Liverpool, Agent for the Applicants.