IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR AND MOLASSES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR AND MOLASSES."- A com-
munication from abroad by Louis Pierre Robert de Massy and Louis
Robert de Massy, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 1st August 1864, and dated the 7th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th March 1864.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR AND MOLASSES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in refining sugar and molasses consists
in the treatment of the syrup or saccharine liquid with baryta or strontia,
whereby the syrup may be refined with greater speed and economy, and an
increased yield obtained than by the processes now in use for the same
purpose.

page_text: In carrying out the Invention for the manufacture of sugar the juice mixed
with lime is first defecated by simple or double saturation with the assistance
of carbonic acid. The syrup having thus been relieved of the grossest
impurities, is treated with about 60 per cent. of caustic baryta, the exact
proportion depending upon the quantity of sugar contained in the syrup, and
which forms by means of the heat an insoluble saccharate of baryta, which is
separated from the liquid by decantation, washing, or any other suitable
means. This saccharate is put on one side, and the liquid is treated either
with a current of carbonic acid, or by sulphuric acid, in order to precipitate
the baryta which is in excess in the process of saccharification. The
precipitate is separated and is used over again in the manufacture. The
water raay be allowed to run away or may be sold, or it may be used as a
manure, for which it is peculiarly applicable. By this process it will be seen
that the refining operation is more quickly performed, and the cost of
evaporation is avoided.
By another process, after saturating the syrup with lime it is to be
evaporated to any desired density, and the caustic baryta then added in the
same proportions as before. Then proceed as in the other process, but instead
of throwing away the water or liquid after separating the insoluble salts it is
evaporated again in order to obtain the salts of potash or soda. The saccharate,
which has been put on one side, as before mentioned, will keep for any time
without altering its chemical state, if it be kept out of contact of carbonic
acid. When it is required to be operated upon at once for the manufacture of
sugar it is mixed with four times its weight of pure water, and then submitted
to the action of carbonic acid under pressure until the baryta is completely
saturated. The sugar obtained in this manner will be chemically pure, and
the insoluble carbonate of baryta may be separated therefrom in the manner
already mentioned.. By decomposing the carbonate of baryta by means of
sulphuric acid, carbonic acid may be obtained for the purpose above set forth.
The decomposition of the carbonate of baryta may also be effected by means
of sulphate of soda or sulphate of potash, when an insoluble sulphate of baryta
will be obtained and soluble salts of the other bases. I would observe that
strontia may be used in place of baryta throughout the whole process if
preferred, and will produce precisely the same result.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR AND MOLASSES," being a
communication from Louis Pierre Robert de Massy and Louis Robert de
Massy, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an
instrumentin writing under my hand and seal,should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and. by
the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in refining sugar and molasses, consists
in the treatment of the syrup or saccharine liquid with baryta or strontia,
whereby the syrup may be refined with greater speed and economy, and
an increased yield obtained than by the processes now in use for the same
purpose.
In carrying out the Invention for the manufacture of sugar,the juice mixed
with lime is first defecated by simple or double saturation with the assistance
of carbonic acid. The syrup having thus been relieved of the grossest

page_text: impurities, is treated with about sixty per cent. of caustic baryta, the exact
proportion depending upon the quantity of sugar contained in the syrup, and
which forms by means of the heat an insoluble saccharate of baryta, which is
separated from the liquid by decantation, washing, or any other suitable
means. This saccharate is put on one side, and the liquid is treated either
with a current of carbonic acid or by sulphuric acid, in order to precipitate
the baryta which is in excess in the process of saccharification. I would observe
that, as there isno sugar in the liquid,sulphuric acid may without inconvenience
be used for precipitating the baryta. The precipitate thus separated may be
used over again in the same manner. It is advisable to carry on the process
to the boiling point and to keep up the temperature in order that the sediment
may be collected and more readily precipitated. The water may be allowed
.to run away or may be sold, or it may be used as a manure, for which it
is peculiarly applicable. By this process about one-twentieth part of the
sugar is lost, but the refining operation is more quickly performed and the
cost of evaporation is avoided; the liquid which contains the saccharate has
less density and consequently holds less impurities.
By another process, after saturating the syrup with lime it is to be evaporated
to any desired density and the caustic baryta then added in the same proportions
as before. Then proceed as in the other process, but instead of throwing away
the water or liquid after separating the insoluble salts, the liquid is to be
evaporated again in order to obtain the salts of potash or soda. By this
method of operating very little sugar is lost, and salts of potash and soda are
obtained, which pay well for the cost of evaporation, but there is mixed with
the saccharate a liquid containing more impurities. It is unnecessary to
state that for the refining operation only the quantity of water must be added
necessary to properly separate the precipitated saccharate. The saccharate,
which has been put on one side, as before-mentioned, will keep for any time
without altering its chemical state if it be kept out of contact with carbonic
acid. When it is required to be operated upon at once for the manufacture
of sugar, it is mixed with four times its. weight of pure water, and then
submitted to the action of carbonic acid under pressure until the baryta is
completely saturated. This saturation offers some difficulties, for instance,
even when submitted to the action of the acid for a considerable time the
saturation is incomplete, and in this case all the saccharate not decomposed
is equal to an equivalent loss of sugar; the deposit of carbonate of baryta is
besides very slow in collecting and difficult to separate. This evil is obviated
by operating at this stage of the process under pressure in closed vessels, a
pressure of from half an atmosphere to one atmosphere will be sufficient for

page_text: this purpose. By this means the saturation will be effected with great
expedition, and the precipitate will be very easily collected.
There would be great advantage in having pure carbonic acid, which may
be readily produced by the decomposition of carbonate oflime by means of an
acid, or still better and more economically by manufacturing lime, and
making use of the carbonic acid produced by the decomposition of sulphates
into sulphurets, or by decomposing by means of sulphuric acid the carbonate
of baryta which has been formed. Should none of these means be available
the carbonic acid might, as in sugar manufacturies, be produced by the
combustion of charcoal in a close vessel; but in that case the apparatus in
which the pressure is exerted should be furnished with a valve for the escape
of the gas at a determined pressure after having passed through the liquid to
be saturated. This valve, although of less dimensions, would be also equally
necessary in the former case for the prevention of explosion. The saturation
of the saccharate being completed there will remain in the solution chemically
pure syrup, which is separated from the carbonate of baryta in the same
manner as the soluble salts were already separated from the insoluble salts,
or a methodical washing will produce a good result, as a portion of the wash
waters may be put on one side to serve for the dissolution of the sugar of the
saccharate in the succeeding operation. From this syrup may be made
without other preparation loaf sugar, sugar candy, or white powdered sugar,
especially if vacuum pans be employed. With respect to the carbonate of
baryta, it is, as above stated, converted into sulphate by means of sulphuric
acid, and thus the carbonic acid necessary for the carbonization under this
process will be obtained. If the manufacture of soda or potash by the aid of
the sulphate of these two bases be added, great advantage will result, as the
soda or potash will be obtained in a caustic or carbonated state at little or no
expense. The treatment of the sulphates of potash and soda being the same, .
only one of them will be mentioned, viz., the sulphate of soda, as the same
application may be made of sulphate of potash. The operation will then be
carried on by double decomposition. Carbonate of baryta is to be added to a
dilute solution of sulphate of soda in the proportion of about two-thirds of the
sulphate in solution. The mixture is to be carried to the boiling point until
the carbonate of baryta is completely decomposed (that is to say, for about an
hour and a half), the soluble salts are then to be separated from the insoluble
salts, and sulphate of soda will be precipitated, which serves for the re-pro-
duction of baryta. In the solution there is carbonate of soda mixed with a
large quantity of sulphate of the same base. They may be separated by
crystallisation, but it is infinitely preferable to caustify the carbonated part,

page_text: and act upon the sulphate which remains in the liquid by the help of two
fresh equivalents of carbonate of baryta calculated according to the quantity
of sulphate of soda pre-existing in the liquor. The mixture is again heated
as before to the boiling point,and in presence of the caustifying agents nearly
the whole of the sulphate of soda will be decomposed; after decantation there
remains caustic soda mixed with carbonate of soda. It may be sold in this
state, or rendered entirely caustic, or converted wholly into a carbonate and
sold commercially in that state either in the state of solution or ina crystallized
form, or after having been submitted to calcination. With regard to the
deposit formed composed of carbonate and sulphate of baryta, its conversion
into sulphate of baryta is effected by bringing it as at first into the presence
of sulphate of soda in the proportion of one equivalent and a half of this
latter salt to one equivalent of carbonate of baryta, operating as above
mentioned for the complete decomposition of the carbonate of baryta.
These latter processes are only mentioned here by reason of their intimate
connexion with the treatment of baryta and process of carbonization in
operating upon sugar according to the present Invention.
A modification of the present Invention consists in converting carbonate of
baryta into a sulphate of the same base by the aid of sulphate of soda and
potash,and doing away with several of the operations above mentioned, which
simplifies the process. For this purpose, instead of operating in the hot state
and putting one of the products in great excess in proportion to the other,
and then caustifying the soda, a solution of sulphate ofsoda and its equivaleut
of carbonate of baryta are treated by a cold process by exposing them in an
atmosphere of carbonic acid (which must be replenished as it is absorbed,
stirring briskly, and at the expiration of from an hour to an hour and a half,
the reaction will be complete. If the carbonic acid be supplied under
pressure the reaction will be much more speedy; for instance, with a pressure
of from one to two atmospheres half an hour will suffice to complete the
operation. It will therefore be advisable to operate in closed vessels in order
that the liquid may be continually in the presence of carbonic acid. If it be
desired to operate under pressure the carbonic acid must be introduced at a
pressure of from one to two atinospheres, and in any case brisk agitation is
necessary for the purpose of continually reuewing the surfaces. The reaction
might be effected in open vessels, but in that case much more time would be
required, and a quantity of carbonic acid would be needlessly lost. An
insoluble sulphate of baryta and soluble carbonate of soda will be obtained,
which are to be separated by the ordinary method.
I would here remark that although this process forms a part of the present

page_text: Invention, it is scarcely necessary to observe that this method of treatment is..
only practicable where it is desired to unite the manufacture of soda and potash
with the manufacture and refining of sugar according to this Invention, and
particularly in establishments where these sulphates are treated either as an
accessory or as the principal process.
I would also observe that this reaction being the same for all the carbonates
susceptible of forming insoluble sulphates,it is claimed for all the applications
of which it is susceptible.
I would further observe that I do not confine myself to any particular
arrangement or construction of apparatus, as these will depend upon the
nature of the operations to be performed, and can only be ascertained by
experience; but that which I desire to claim as the Invention communicated
to me as aforesaid, is obtaining sugar from syrup by means of baryta and
strontia applied in the manner and for the purposes above described; I claim
particularly the process of carbonation under pressure, and the decomposition
of carbonate of baryta by the sulphates of other bases, whether the process
above described be adopted as a whole, or any one or more of the means be
employed separately.
I would observe in conclusion that in case any traces of baryta should
remain in the syrup, they must be precipitated by an addition of sulphate of
lime. There will then be a precipitate of sulphate of baryta, which may
readily be removed; I also claim this part of the process.
In witness whereof,I,the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hard and seal, the Seventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)