Ermu
Chapter 287: Preparing the Soap Factory
The washing stones purchased from Silverlight City filled four ships, and unloading them took several days.
Now that there are sufficient raw materials, the soap production plan should be formally put on the agenda.
The supporting factory and warehouse have already been built. The soap factory is located next to the Industrial Park, next to the No. 2 Steam Assembly Plant, and has the same shape. The roof, beams, and wall panels are all made of wood, and the size is a bit smaller. In addition, the cutting and lifting of the wood are handled by witches, so the construction period only took a week.
Using washing stone, that is, natural alkali, to make soap is essentially a series of chemical reactions. The raw materials needed are also very common. In addition to soda ash, a large amount of lime and oil are also needed. Among them, lime is a suspension that is precipitated at the bottom of the container after soaking lime in water, which is used to react with soda ash to produce caustic soda, and then caustic soda reacts with oil to produce higher fatty acid salts and glycerol. The former is soap, and the latter is a very important raw material.
Previously, when making scented soap, Roland had already tested the complete reaction process in the backyard of the castle. The principle is basically the same, but to expand the small-scale trial production to mass production, it is still necessary to formulate reasonable processes and specifications, and more importantly, professional chemical talents are needed to guide the production.
To this end, he summoned the Chief Alchemist into the office.
"Your Highness, I have come up with a perhaps feasible solution for the large-scale production of sulfuric acid that you requested," Kaimo. Streel shouted as soon as he entered the door. "However, this requires a large amount of lead, and blacksmiths to make lead into containers. I heard that some of your witches can accurately cut metal. Those rumbling iron lumps are made by her. Can I..."
"Of course, report the shape and size of the containers you require to me, and I will ask the Witches Alliance to do it," Roland beckoned him to sit down. "I am looking for you today not for acid production, but for another task."
"Your Highness, I really can't spare time to do other things recently," Kaimo shook his head repeatedly. "Large-scale acid production is a difficult challenge, and I must devote myself to it." He paused, and added, "My disciples can't either. They are all helping me prepare for this matter, and none of them can leave."
"Don't worry, it won't take you too much time," Roland took a sip of tea. "Nor do you need to transfer your proud disciples to be responsible. Just a few apprentices will do."
"Then... what is the task?"
"Making soap. It's the cheap version of the scented soap in the convenience market. Except for the smell, its function is exactly the same as scented soap. It can be used for bathing, washing clothes, and cleaning tableware."
"Is it the saponification reaction mentioned in 《Elementary Chemistry》?" Kaimo stroked his beard and said, "The one that uses sodium hydroxide to react with oil to produce alcohol and salt?"
It must be said that hearing standard chemical terms from the mouth of an alchemist is a very strange feeling, especially since the term was coined by himself. Roland resisted the urge to laugh and nodded solemnly, "That's right, it's the saponification reaction recorded in the ancient books. I also figured out how to make scented soap based on it."
"Then what do you need me to do? If it's not very important, I suggest putting it off until later. After all, your subjects don't have any problems even if they don't take a bath for several days. Clothes and plates can just be soaked in the river."
"It's very important," the prince emphasized. "Or rather, making soap is not important, but the by-products of the production process are what I urgently need."
"You mean... alcohol?" Kaimo said disapprovingly.
"That's right, it's alcohol. You can also call it glycerol," Roland said. "It is a very important raw material, and its significance is no less than the two acids."
"Okay," Kaimo. Streel shrugged, "But it's agreed, I don't have time to implement it myself."
He breathed a sigh of relief. Dealing with the Chief Alchemist was really a tiring task. "You just need to pick out a few clever apprentices and demonstrate it to them once. I will recruit some subjects to carry out the production, but after all, they know nothing about chemistry, so someone must check every link," the prince paused slightly. "You can also treat it as a never-practiced chemical experiment. If it is placed in the alchemy workshop, this process may mean the discovery of several alchemy formulas, enough to allow an apprentice to obtain the title of alchemist."
Perhaps it was the last sentence that convinced Kaimo, "In that case, I will take an afternoon to teach the content you arranged to the apprentices."
"Very good," Roland smiled slightly. "You should also know that the most important thing in the production process is to obtain a sufficient amount of sodium hydroxide." He wrote the reaction formula on paper. Before the synthetic alkali process was invented, natural alkali was the most important alkali-making raw material. The latter's main component is sodium bicarbonate, which can be decomposed into sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide, and water by heating. Because the raw materials are abundant and the process is simple, it is still in use to this day. "Heating, dissolving, and filtering the washing stone will give you a relatively pure sodium carbonate solution."
"Next, heating it with lime will give you a sodium hydroxide solution. You should easily think of the purification method," he explained as he wrote. "Clarify, distill, mix, and repeat this step until the solution concentration can precipitate a large amount of crystals after cooling."
These are all the contents involved in 《Elementary Chemistry》. Because the two alkalis have many nicknames, which are easy to confuse (such as caustic soda, soda ash, baking soda, etc.), and are important knowledge points for exams, he memorized the relevant content in the textbook, so he still remembers it clearly.
"I understand," the Chief Alchemist read the reaction formula from beginning to end. "But Your Highness, what about the oil?"
"I will arrange for someone to send these materials to you." Animal oil is still an expensive item in this era, but after the seed purchase trip of the Royal Guards brought olive tree seeds from the Dragonfall Ridge, Border Town had a reliable source of vegetable oil. Although it is currently only planted on a small scale in the backyard of the castle, with Leaves' ability to ripen, harvesting a pile of fruits a day is not a problem.
And the extraction of olive oil is also very simple. After the fruit matures, it can be physically cold-pressed to produce oil, and then filtered through a filter screen to remove debris and residue, you can get clear oil.
Finally, after briefly explaining the production of soap and the requirements for retaining glycerol, Roland let Kaimo. Streel leave the office.
In this way, when the soap factory starts operation, he will have a stable channel to obtain glycerol.
And with glycerol, it means that the real smokeless gunpowder and powerful explosives are not far from him.