The Development of the Chemical Industry during the Industrial Revolution

1. The Development of the Chemical Industry during the Industrial Revolution

2. Chemical Industry: What? • 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. The Chemical Industry Today • $3 trillion global business • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_industry • http://beta.soci.org/ • http://www.cia.org.uk/newsite/ • Oral Presentation: include a description of the current state of your industry

4. SALT= NaClPre-Industrial Revolution • 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 Dundonald’s contributions?

5. Ninth Earl of Dundonald • 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.

6. Dundonald • Involved in production of soda ash (from salt)

7. Sources of 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

8. Palaeotechnic Salt Industry (18th c) • Relationship to other IR developments • Coal replaced wood ( @ 1 ton salt produced for 6-10 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...

9. Salt Industry Spin-offs • 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

10. Salt Industry and Modern Chemical Industry • 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.

11. PotashPre-Industrial Revolution • 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

12. Timber depletion (why?) led to • 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.

13. Yield of Ash from Timber (p. 68-69) • < 1% ash in wood • 2-5% in seeds • 4-9% in cereal, hay • 4-8% in roots • 10-25% in leaves

14. Kelp • 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.

15. Chemicals From Kelp • 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?

16. More Kelp Products • 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)

17. Palaeotechnic Transition • A deeper look into synthesis and commercialization of soda ash, sodium carbonate. • An early model for the chemical industry. p. 91-92 handout

18. Alternatives to Plant-Based Soda • 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).

19. The Lunar Society and Soda Ash • John Roebuck • James Watt • Matthew Boulton • Joseph Black • James Keir • Eramus Darwin • Josiah Wedgwood

20. Ninth Earl of Dundonald • 1795 patent describing methods to produce soda (alkali) and other chemicals. (p.101-102; 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

21. Dundonald • Commercialization of by-products of soda ash production

22. Sea Salt to Soda Ash: The Founding of Chemical Industries • 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.

23. LeBlanc Process • 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

24. Role of Soda Ash • 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

25. A Small Revival (an aside) • The 1812 discovery of Iodine in kelp revitalized the kelp industry but only to a small extent.

26. The Downside of the Industrial Revolution • 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

27. Addressing Detrimental Chemical By-Products • The seeds of Green Chemistry