to Obtain Fatty Acids and Glycerine therefrom.
Year: 1885

page_text: to Obtain Fatty Acids and Glycerine therefrom.
I ALFREDO MICHEL of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but now temporarily of 34 Leaden-
hall Street in the City of London, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING FATTY MATTERS IN
ORDER TO OBTAIN FATTY ACIDS AND GLYCERINE THEREFROM" to be as follows:-
Hitherto in order to effect the saponification of fatty matters or to obtain fatty
acids and glycerine therefrom it has been usual to employ sulphuric acid and to
submit the fatty matters under treatment to several washings before distillation.
This process is however slow and expensive. Various attempts have been made
to separate the fatty acids from the glycerine by means of water aided by pressure
and this method is generally known as aqueous saponification; but these attempts
have failed commercially.
Now my Invention consists of an improved construction of apparatus by means
of which without the use of sulphuric acid, and with water only I can obtain in
an economical manner the fatty acids and glycerine from tallow or other fatty.
matters.
For this purpose I employ a device by preference of the nature of a monte-jus
to which I supply the tallow or other fatty matter mixed with water; the pro-
portion of tallow to the water being about 5 to 1 although this proportion may be
varied. The monte-jus or other device supplies the mixture of tallow and water
to two boilers or autoclaves which are heated by means of a fire or otherwise, and
are maintained at a pressure of 15 to 16 atmospheres. These boilers or autoclaves
have external circulating pipes fitted with test cocks by means of which one can
at any time ascertain if the fatty matters are in a state of circulation. After about
8 hours the contents of the boilers are discharged into a close vessel in which
after being allowed to remain for about half an hour the glycerine will by gravity
separate itself from the fatty acids. The glycerine is drawn off at the lower part
of the close vessel and the fatty acids are run directly into a still. This still is
heated externally by a furnace or fire, and superheated steam is admitted into the
lower part of the fatty acid contained therein. The still is in communication with
a condenser on the other side of which is a continuous action pump. The vapor
Do31

page_text: from the fatty acids together with the steam is drawn off by the pump through
the condenser and discharged into a suitable receiver. The action of the pump is
to diminish the pressure and therefore the temperature in the still and condenser
whereby a greater quantity of fatty acid is obtained and a larger proportion of
white acid; the use of the pump also shortens the operation. Instead of the
superheated steam being admitted into the fatty acids through a perforated
serpentine or coil, as is usual in stills employed for this purpose, I conduct the
steam into space contained between the bottom of the still and an inverted dish or
concave plate notched at its edge which rests on the still bottom so that the steam
escapes through the notches into the fatty acid.
I dispense with the use of red lead or other like material to make a hermetic
joint between the covers of the autoclaves and the autoclaves themselves by
constructing these parts beveled or conical so that when forced tightly together
by means of flanges and bolts a perfect joint is ensured. In like manner I make
the joints of all the other parts of my apparatus of beveled or conical parts.

page_text: to Obtain Fatty Acids and Glycerine therefrom.
I ALFREDO MICHEL, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but now temporarily of 34 Leaden-
hall Street, in the City of London, Engineer 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:-
Hitherto in order to effect the saponification of fatty matters or to obtain fatty
acids and glycerine therefrom it has been usual to employ sulphuric acid or other
chemical agents and to submit the fatty matters under treatment to several
washings before distillation. This process is however slow and expensive. Various
attempts have been made to separate the fatty acids from the glycerine by means
of water, aided by pressure and this method is generally known as aqueous
saponification; but these attempts have failed commercially.
Now my invention consists of an improved construction of apparatus by means
of which without the use of sulphuric acid or other chemical agents and with
water only I can obtain in an economical manner the fatty acids and glycerine
from tallow or other fatty matters.
For this purpose. I employ a device by preference of the nature of a monte-jus
to which I supply the tallow or other fatty matter mixed with water; the
proportion of tallow to the water being about 5 to 1 although this proportion may
be varied. The monte-jus or other device supplies the mixture of tallow and
water to two boilers or autoclaves which are heated by means of a fire or otherwise
and are maintained at a pressure of about 15 to 16 atmospheres. These boilers or
autoclaves have external circulating pipes and are fitted with test cocks by means
of which one can at any time ascertain in what state the fatty, matters are. After
being subjected to the pressure above mentioned for about eight hours the contents
of the boilers are discharged into a close vessel in which after being allowed to
remain for about half an hour the glycerine will by gravity separate itself from the
fatty acids. The glycerine is drawn off at the lower part of the close vessel and
the fatty acids are run directly into a still. This still is heated externally by a
furnace or fire, and superheated steam is admitted into the lower part of the fatty
acid contained therein. The still is in communication with a condenser on the
other side of which is a continuous action pump. The vapor from the fatty acids
together with the steam is drawn off by the pump through the condenser and
discharged into a suitable receiver. The action of the pump is to diminish the
pressure and therefore the temperature in the still and condenser whereby a greater
quantity of fatty acid is obtained and a larger proportion of white acid; the use of
the pump also shortens the operation. Instead of the super-heated steam being
admitted into the fatty acids through a perforated serpentine or coil as is usual in
stills employed for this purpose, I conduct the steam into a space contained between
the bottom of the still and an inverted dish or concave plate notched at its edge
which rests on the still bottom so that the steam escapes through the notches into
the fatty acid;

page_text: .
I dispense with the use of red lead or other like material to make a hermetic
joint between the covers of the autoclaves and the autoclaves themselves by
constructing these parts beveled or conical so that when forced tightly together
by means of flanges and bolts a perfect joint is ensured. In like manner I make
the joints of all the other parts of my apparatus of beveled or conical parts where
practicable.
The annexed drawings represent an apparatus constructed according to my
invention. Figure 1 is an elevation partly sectional and Figure 2 a plan; Figure 3
is an elevation of the opposite side to that seen in Figure 1. The still and con-
denser are not shown in Figure 1 and the boilers or autoclaves are not shown in
Figure 3. Figure 4 is a section of one autoclave at right angles to Figure 1.
A is the monte-jus or similar apparatus to which the tallow or fatty matter to
be treated is supplied together with a suitable proportion of water, say 5 parts
of tallow to 1 of water. B, B¹ are the two boilers or autoclaves to which the
mixture of tallow and water is supplied from the monte-jus A through the pipe i, 11
and cocks M, M¹ and pipes the mixture being caused to rise through the
pipes i, by the pressure of steam which enters the monte jus from any suitable
boiler. The autoclaves B, B', have external circulating pipes x, x, y, y¹ which at
their upper part communicate with a vessel C; the pipes y, y¹ extend to the lower
part of the autoclaves B, B¹. These autoclaves are heated by means of fires and
the pressure therein is raised to and maintained at about 15 to 16 atmospheres.
The pressure causes the fatty matters to rise up the pipes y, y¹ to the vessel C, in
which, as it is at a lower temperature than the autoclaves, the temperature of the
fatty matters falls so that they descend by the pipes x, x¹ to the autoclaves, an
active circulation being thus maintained. This circulation can be further increased
by the alternation of the fires below the cylinders from the one, to the other.
The vessel C is not essential and if not used the pipe y should be connected to the
pipe and the pipe y' to the pipe x. u, u¹ are fittings each of which comprises a
safety-valve, a gauge and a test-cock, by these test cocks samples can be drawn off
whenever it is desired to ascertain the state of the fatty matters. The fatty
matters being in intimate contact in the autoclaves, at the pressure of about 15 to
16 atmospheres, with the steam produced from the water mixed therewith are
decomposed into fatty acids after about eight hours pressure and the contents of
the autoclaves are then discharged into a close vessel. D is the close vessel and j,
is the pipe through which the contents of the autoclaves are conveyed thereto this
pipe being then in connection with the cocks M, M¹.
The matters being discharged direct from the autoclaves B, B' into the vessel D
(which can be done at any pressure) there can be no risk of loss of material in the
air or by fire as is the case with the usual method of discharging. After being
about half an hour in the vessel D the glycerine or glycerine-water will separate
from the fatty acids; this operation is due to gravity or difference in density
alone, no chemical agent such as lime, acid, zinc, or sulphate of ammonia being
necessary; consequently products are obtained of greater purity and in a greater
per-centage of the original amount of fatty matter used than when chemical agents
are employed. O is a cock for drawing off the glycerine from the vessel D and P
is a pipe for drawing off the fatty acids so as to conduct them direct to the still.
Y is a pipe leading from the top of the vessel D to a receiver Z to convey away
any uncondensed steam; the receiver Z is in communication with the atmosphere
by the pipe Z³.
F is the still; it is heated externally by a furnace or fire, and superheated steam
from the superheating vessels g, g¹, g², g³ is admitted to the lower part of the fatty
acid contained therein. The still F is preferably of the form shewn which gives it
a large superficial area of evaporation in proportion to its height. X is a condenser
with which the still F communicates and on the other side of the condenser is a
continuous action pump (not shown) which draws off through the condenser the
vapor from the fatty acids together with the steam. The condenser ✗ is placed as
close as practicable to the still F so as to diminish the distance the fatty acids have

page_text: to travel before condensation. The superheated steam admitted to the still F is
discharged below an inverted dish or concave plate T notched at its edges; as the
steam can only escape through these notches it becomes well distributed through
the body of the fatty acids in the still. The condenser X may be of any suitable
kind; that shown in the drawings is of peculiar construction; it has at its upper
part a vessel Q into which the whole of the matters drawn off from the still F
enter; it has two outlets, viz an outlet v at the bottom opening into a vertical
pipe w through which the fatty acid vapors already condensed and which are
almost pure stearine fall by gravity; and an outlet v¹ into which the uncondensed
fatty acid vapors pass so as to flow through the worm or coil z, z¹, z². 2³ to the
pump. The use of the pump for drawing out the materials from the still as soon
as they are vaporized not only shortens the operation but diminishes the temperature
necessary for the distillation to about from 85° to 110° Fahrenheit; this diminution
of temperature leads to the production of a larger proportion of white acid with
a smaller amount of dark residuum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, in respect of apparatus for treating fatty matters in order to obtain fatty
acids and glycerine therefrom, is :—
1. The combination of two boilers or autoclaves in which the fatty matter mixed
with water is decomposed the said autoclaves being provided with pipes for
maintaining a circulation of the mixture, substantially as described.
2. The combination with the two boilers or autoclaves and with their circulating
pipes of a vessel with which these pipes communicate, substantially as described.
3. The combination with the boilers or autoclaves of a close vessel into which
the contents of the autoclaves are discharge without direct contact with the air
and at any pressure, substantially as described.
4. The construction of apparatus, substantially as described in such manner
that the glycerine of the fatty matters under treatment becomes separated from
the fatty acids by gravity alone, that is to say, without the use of chemical
agents.
.
5. The fitting of the still with an inverted dish or concave plate at the bottom
thereof, substantially as described, to receive and distribute the superheated steam.
6. The combination with the still and the condenser of a pump for drawing off
the vapors from the still, substantially as described.
7. The combination of devices as hereinbefore described with reference to the
annexed drawings, constituting an improved apparatus for treating fatty matters
in order to obtain fatty acids and glycerine therefrom.