EDITORIAL. 
value as a decolorizing agent for certain organic liquids and aqueous 
solutions. The charcoal is then collected in a filter press and dried. 
After removal of sulphates, the brine from the leaching process is 
heated in a vacuum pan until a definite concentration is reached; it 
is then transferred to a vacuum crystallizer, where the potassium 
chloride deposits. ‘The cooled brine is returned to the vacuum pan 
and further concentrated while sodium chloride separates. Each salt 
is washed, dried first in a centrifugal machine, then in a rotary 
counter-current, hot-air drier, and finally packed for market. The’ 
mother liquors are used until their content of iodine salts has become 
sufficiently great. They are then treated for the recovery of iodine as 
a by-product. The volatile by-products recovered from retorting 
include ammonia liquor, methyl alcohol, and an oily distillate from 
which have been obtained an oil which is of value in the concentration 
of ores by flotation, and a creosote which is highly toxic to bacteria 
and may be used as a wood preservative. Gas is also produced in the 
retort, and is used as fuel. By another process, the dried kelp is fed 
into one end of a rotary kiln while a flame from burning oil enters at 
the other end; the kiln is lined with fire-brick. Charcoal is produced 
and leaves the kiln at a low red heat. It may be quenched, ground, 
and leached to obtain the potash salts, or it may be permitted to burn 
to a loose, grey non-caking kelp ash with a potassium content equal to 
approximately 35 per cent. K,O—The Chemical News. ; 
POTASH FROM KELP IN AUSTRALIA. 
At the instigation of the Institute of Science and Industry analyses 
have been made of a number of specimens of kelp collected at various 
places off the Australian coast, with a view to determining their iodine 
and potash contents. On the average, the potash contents of the ash 
- was shown to be about 14 per cent., although individual samples have 
yielded as high as 80 per cent. Before any expression of opinion could 
possibly be given as to the likelihood of a new commercial source of 
potash being developed, much further investigation would be necessary, 
and this would involve a great deal of expense. . In the first place, there 
would need to be a thorough exploration of the fields of kelp, in order 
to determine their extent and also the suitability of their location for 
continuous harvesting. If collection were rendered intermittent on 
account of rough seas, stoppages would seriously tend, even where fields. 
were dense, to make the recovery unprofitable. In California very 
large sums of money are being spent upon the experimental work in 
progress, and the results of the work are being followed with close 
interest by many countries. _ / 
. 
2 _ ‘INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE.” . 
Dr. A. W. Crossley, Director of the British Cotton Industry Re- 
search Association, in the course of an address at the third conference 
of the Research Association, pointed out that all great industrial 
advances had been the outcome of pure scientific research work. Rule 
395. 
— 
el SS itt i itineeti te S 
