This term refers to the manufacturing of

chemical products from raw materials (oil,

wood, minerals, petroleum, metals, water).
These chemicals are primarily used for
starting materials for consumer goods
(plastics, pharmaceuticals, synthetics, etc),
pulp and paper industry, metallurgy,
textiles, construction materials, agriculture,
matter.

$3 trillion global business

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_indust
ry
http://beta.soci.org/
http://www.cia.org.uk/newsite/
Oral Presentation: include a description of
the current state of your industry

Eotechnic: Prepare and preserve food and

skins
Salt from sea required nearby wood then coal for
evaporating water (2 tons salt + 97 ton water);
Salt from rock salt brine led to fuel being
transported to site. (23 tons salt + 76 tons water)

Transition to Palaeotechnic: Salt-boiling

(diagram on p. 52)
Earl of Dundonalds contributions?

The Present State of the Manufacture of Salt

Explained (data above).
Efforts to improve the purification of salt
from rock salt.
Concerns about hazardous working
conditions for women.
Reasons for Allowing English Salt to be
Brought to Scotland at the Scotch Duty.

Involved in production of soda ash (from

salt)

Salt varies as a function of source (sea

water, brine and rock salt deposits), location
and preparation.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/26
/sunday/main4546110.shtml?
source=search_story

Relationship to other IR developments

Coal replaced wood ( @ 1 ton salt produced for 610 tons coal)
Iron pans replaced of lead (for higher coal burning
temps).
Extraction of salt from raw materials p 56-57
Steam engines were used to pump brine
Other industries: textiles, glass, pottery, china...

Chlorine for bleaching (textiles)

SO2, HCl, NO, NH3, Cl2, H2S, Na2CO3 (soda),
NH4Cl
Soap making
Medicinal uses
Flux in glass-making and metal smelting
Pottery glazing

How does this remind you of the coal tar

industry with its relationship to other
industries and all the products it spawned?
We will look more closely at the industries
of the Industrial Revolution that can be
considered precursors of the modern
chemical industry.

Pot + Ash: impure form of K2CO3 produced

in the burning of wood. (note potassium)
Water soluble component of ash; collected
by evaporating water in iron pots.
Also called alkali (containing carbonates,
base).
Used in the making of glass, alum, soap,
saltpeter, bleach, fertilizer.
Ash yield from timber, leaves, roots... Clow
p 68

Importation of ash from Europe, Americas

The use of other sources of ash: burn
salsola soda (earthy shrub with berries) to
make an ash called barilla from Spain, buy
mineral deposits from Egypt, burn nettles,
thistles, hemlock, juniper.
Intervention of govt: set up investigating
committees, repeal duties on imported ash,
offer prizes to find another source of ash.

< 1% ash in wood

2-5% in seeds
4-9% in cereal, hay
4-8% in roots
10-25% in leaves

When kelp, a certain kind of dried seaweed

was burned, ash was produced.
This developed along the islands and shores
of northern Scotland but only after its price
became competitive (later aided by salt tax).
Some concerns about kelping. Clow p. 71.
Kelp yielded numerous products: NaCl
(25%), KCl (3%), Na2CO3, Na2SO4, MgSO4,
MgCl2 some of which became profitable
commodities.

Soda ash (Na2CO3) emerged as key

compound for several industries.
Glass making: Nearly all of the salts in kelp
were used in the flux frit glass
Soap making:
Na2CO3 + Ca(OH)2 2NaOH + CaCO3
Kelp and lime
caustic soda and chalk
Sources of these reactants or raw
materials?

Textiles: kelp was used as a raw material

for alum to fix dyes on the fabric
K2SO4 Al2 (SO4) 3 24H2O or
(NH4) 2SO4 Al2 (SO4) 3 24 H2O
Kelp was also used as fertilizer
The kelp industry in northern Scotland and
the Hebrides reached its peak in 1800. (p.
89)

A deeper look into synthesis and

commercialization of soda ash, sodium
carbonate.
An early model for the chemical industry. p.
91-92 handout

As timber was consumed for charcoal, ash

and uses in war, the govt offered incentives
for new (non-natural resource) sources of
ash.
Clow identifies two important groups that
contributed to solving the ash problem: the
Lunar Society and the Ninth Earl of
Dundonald. (Our old friend).

John Roebuck
James Watt
Matthew Boulton
Joseph Black
James Keir
Eramus Darwin
Josiah Wedgwood

1795 patent describing methods to produce

soda (alkali) and other chemicals. (p.101102; i.e. Treatise on the Connection of
Agriculture with Chemistry) and
Extraction of salt from non-taxed sources (p.
102-103
Established chemical works at Walker 1796

Commercialization of by-products of soda

ash production

By 1810, the kelp industry was in decline

caused to a large extent by numerous
efforts to discover and improve a successful
synthetic method of making soda ash from
sea salt.
The considerable work by members of the
Lunar Society and by the Earl of Dundonald
illustrate these efforts.
When the salt tax was repealed in 1823, the
soda ash industry grew enormously. See
graph Clow p.112.

Most of the synthetic methods were related

to the LeBlanc process, 1791 patent.
2NaCl + H2SO4 Na2SO4 + 2HCl
Na2SO4 + CaCO3 + 2C Na2CO3 + CaS +
2CO2
Add water to dissolve soda ash, then
evaporate water.
Sources of these raw materials?, pollutants?
Clow p. 108-109

With a dependable supply (NaCl from the

sea, salt brines or mines vs timber, other
plants) of soda ash, other industries grew
into major enterprises and economic
drivers. @ 1823
Soda ash: Soap, Textiles and Glass
What were these by-products of soda ash
production used for: CuS, FeS, CuSO4,
FeSO4, HCl, HNO3, Cl2, CaCl2?
Clow p. 92

The 1812 discovery of Iodine in kelp

revitalized the kelp industry but only to a
small extent.

Many of the advances of the Industrial

Revolution were accompanied by increased
air and water pollution, hazardous working
conditions, toxic products and by-products.

The LeBlanc synthesis of soda ash from sea salt.

Steam engine
Metallurgy
etc

The seeds of Green Chemistry