[Footnote 35: The generality of alum-minerals require roasting; and their own bituminous matter is, in many cases, sufficient to produce the heat required, which need not necessarily exceed 600 to 650° Fahr., provided it be continued for a sufficient period. It is only when they are less bituminous or carbonaceous that slack or saw-dust, &c., is employed.]
[Footnote 36: For pure POTASH-ALUM a salt of potash only must be employed. When ammonia (usually in the form of gas-liquor or gas-sulphate) is used as the precipitant, the product is AMMONIA-ALUM. The ordinary alums of commerce are now generally mixtures of the two.]
[Footnote 37: The respective quantities required to produce 100 parts of alum from the sulphate of alumina liquor are--
Chloride of potassium 15·7 Sulphate of " 18·4 " ammonium 13·9
In practice, the exact quantity required may be found by a previous trial of a little of the aluminous liquor; but the indications mentioned in the text will always show the operator when a sufficient dose is added.]
2. As ammonia-alum (Spence's process; see _below_), but using a potash-salt as the precipitant, either wholly or in part, instead of ammonia; and, in the latter case, supplementing the deficiency of potash with ammonia, as there explained.
_b._ From ALUMINOUS CLAY and OIL OF VITRIOL:--
1. Clay, free or nearly free from carbonate of lime and oxide of iron, is chosen for this purpose. It is moderately calcined (in lumps) in a reverberatory furnace, until it becomes friable; great care being taken that the heat be not sufficient to indurate it, which would destroy its subsequent solubility. It is next reduced to powder, sifted, and mixed with about 45% of its weight of sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1·45), the operation being conducted in a large stone or brick basin arched over with brickwork. Heat is then applied, the flame and hot air of a reverberatory furnace being made to sweep over the surface of the liquor. The heat and agitation are continued for 2 or 3 days, when the mass is raked out and set aside in a warm place for a few weeks (6 to 8), to allow the acid the more perfectly to combine with the clay. At the end of this time the newly-formed sulphate of alumina is washed out, the solution evaporated until of a sp. gr. of about 1·38 (1·24 for 'ammonia-alum'), and the salt of potash added. The remaining operations resemble those above described. Good alum may be produced by this process at about two thirds the cost of rock or mine alum.