James Muspratt and the Establishment of the Chemical Industry in Merseyside

William Ashworth, University of Liverpool

The history of chemistry, or more accurately alkali, during the Industrial Revolution has always played second fiddle to textile and metal production. However, there is no doubt it was an equally vital development during this period. Mass production of synthetic soda ash did not really commence until the 1820s in Britain. Previously the process was reliant upon imported barilla (ash from a plant grown in the Canary Islands and subject to an import duty—it contained 14 to 20 percent soda), and kelp (ash from seaweed cultivated around the coasts of Ireland, Scotland, Scottish Islands and not subject to an import duty—it contained 1 to 10 percent soda).

Illustration of two men working on flows of molten metal

Harald Piffard, Drawing the Black Ash from a Revolving Furnace, in Robert H. Sherard, The White Slaves of England (London, 1897)

The scarcity of natural sources of soda stimulated the French Academy of Sciences to offer a prize in 1775 for making alkali from non-vegetable sources, leading Nicholas Leblanc, among others, to submit his process using charcoal, salt and limestone in 1790. France was more reliant than Britain upon imported Spanish barilla. Britain also had an advantage in importing potash from the Americas. As such the country was less worried during the late eighteenth century about a natural alkali shortage and had also found ways of extracting alkali from soap waste. After the Napoleonic wars spread to the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 supplies of barilla became especially vulnerable in France, and the manufacture of the synthetic product became more attractive to investors. Not surprisingly its large-scale production began in Marseilles, home of the French soap industry. By 1820 France was producing 17,641 tons of soda via the Leblanc process.

However, by this date the textile and soap manufacturers of northwest England, London and west Scotland had also greatly outstripped the supply of necessary natural soda. Moreover, a price issue over natural supplies had emerged. The London soap makers used barilla and the Liverpool manufacturers used kelp. When the duty on barilla was lowered in 1822 it enabled the London makers to lower the price of their soap and threaten the livelihoods of the Liverpool producers. It was primarily this opportunity that attracted an Irish industrialist to think about the production of synthetic soda in northwest England to supply the local soap makers. The result was James Muspratt’s building of a then huge 112-foot-long and 24-foot-wide acid chamber at his Vauxhall Works in Liverpool. Muspratt was not the first in Britain to make synthetic soda but he did pioneer the making of it on such a large scale. Significant chemical plants were also built on Tyneside, and to a lesser extent in the Midlands.

Photograph of industrial waste looking like outcrops of rock

Sulphur waste heaps in 1985 at the Newton works of James Muspratt abandoned in 1851. Peter Reed, “Galligu,” www.envchemgroup.com. Photo courtesy of Catalyst Science Discovery Centre.

At the time, to make white soda via the Leblanc process was more of an engineering process than one stemming from books about chemistry. You began by constructing lead chambers to contain the oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid). Sodium chloride was then heated with this acid until all the hydrogen chloride bubbles had been emitted and a joined mass was left. The resulting salt cake (sodium sulphate), as it was known, was then placed in flames until all the remaining chloride evaporated. The subsequent product would next be reacted with coal and limestone. All this required immense tacit skill, timing and physical labour with the workmen constantly raking and turning over the mixture. Later in the century this process was semi-mechanised and performed by placing it in what came to be termed the revolver. The remaining black ash was immediately covered with water to prevent oxidation. The resulting liquid was next treated by blowing carbon dioxide through it to dissolve any calcium or remaining impurities. Zinc hydroxide was then added to precipitate any residual sulphide. The remaining substance was further heated till it had evaporated, and the ash was then dissolved and cooled till it recrystalised into white soda ash (sodium carbonate). The insoluble residue was dumped around the works.

Soap makers were initially suspicious of the synthetic soda, having invested quite a large amount of capital in machinery to grind and treat natural alkali. It was the cruder black ash that Muspratt sold during the first few years of production, and he had to work hard for soap makers to trust the product. However, once they accepted the black ash the production of Merseyside soap rapidly developed. The rise of making oil of vitriol, soap-making, glassmaking, bleaching textiles, papermaking and soda cannot be separated. By 1830 Muspratt and other manufacturers started producing much more of the stronger white ash soda, which also had the advantage of being easier to transport and not decomposing. This soda also allowed soap makers to use cheaper palm and vegetable oil in soap production rather than more costly animal fats. By 1830 Merseyside was outproducing London soap makers in both soft and hard soap by a half. Its location and proximity to raw materials made it ideal—with the port of Liverpool also being the main destination for imported vegetable oils and animal fats (especially from Ireland).

The textile industry was the most important customer for soap during much of the century. Joseph, James and Simon Crosfield and other manufacturers were instrumental in getting the excise tax on soap completely removed in 1853. Conveniently forgetting the vast mounds of soap waste these factories produced, they claimed the duty was a tax on health and cleanliness. By the 1850s Britain dominated the production of synthetic soda and thus one of the most polluting products of the century.

Further reading