Jeremy ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
> Details of firms or areas producing sulphuric acid in first quarter C19
> sought in connection with its use in the salt industry and to convert salt to
> other compounds
The book 'Chemical Foundations: The Alkali Industry in Britain to
1926', Kenneth Warren, OUP, 1980, ISBN: 0-19-823231-4
may well be helpful.
Warren discusses the development the Leblanc process for producing
sodium carbonate (starting from sulphuric acid and salt) and its
competition and eventual replacement by the technically superior
ammonia-soda (Solvay) process.
Warren suggests (p24) that most alkali manufacturers made their
own sulphuric acid; if nothing else, this avoided transport
problems. In the early days, they would have bought it
in. For instance, (p58) discussing Tennants 'St Rollox'
works (Glasgow), he quotes James Mactear as saying that until
1803 vitriol was bought in from local makers, from Prestonpans,
and from as far away as Halifax. In 1803 Tennants installed 6 of
their own lead chambers; by 1811 they had 32.
Certainly alkali manufacturers later became adept at producing
and handling a very wide range of chemicals - Leblanc alkali plants
became general (inorganic) chemical factories in a way that
allowed them to survive even when their economic base in the
alkali industry was undermined by the superior ammonia-soda
process.
[if I could take 8 books and 1 record to a desert island, 'Chemical
Foundations' would be one of the books ;-)]
Incidentally, I noticed this Vitriol plant on an 1827 map of
London today (big image file)
http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood/map_g6h.html#bottom
David Gatley wrote:
> Salt was mined in mid-Cheshire. My g.g.grand-dad was a salt
> boiler after he left the farming industry.
> Does this explain the rise of the chemical industry in the
> area around Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn?
The alkali industry certain explains it; that was the first
chemical industry in Widnes. But, Warren suggests that the
primary locational factor for the Leblanc process was the
availability of coal, not salt. Doubtless salt was an influence
sometimes, as were customers - like Liverpool soap boilers.
The latter ammonia-soda plants (e.g. Winnington) *were*
specifically located on the Cheshire salt-field, because they
could use brine directly.
Paul
--
Paul Betteridge, Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA
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