Barilla

Historically, soda ash was produced by extracting the ashes of certain plants, such as Spanish barilla, and evaporating the resultant Hquor. The first large scale, commercial synthetic plant employed the LeBlanc (Nicolas LeBlanc (1742—1806)) process (5). In this process, salt (NaCl) reacts with sulfuric acid to produce sodium sulfate and hydrochloric acid. The sodium sulfate is then roasted with limestone and coal and the resulting sodium carbonate—calcium sulfide mixture (black ash) is leached with water to extract the sodium carbonate. The LeBlanc process was last used in 1916—1917 it was expensive and caused significant pollution. 

As demand for alkalis soared, more and more trees and plants were burned in Western Europe and North America. Each September, peasants along the coasts of Spain and southern France collected the highest quality alkali coastal barilla grasses impregnated with sea salt. The peasants dried... 

But not all the potash, kelp, and barilla in Europe and North America could keep up with the cotton textile factories of Britain and France. France was in a particularly dire situation. Even under normal conditions, her natural sources of alkali were insufficient. Then France supported the American War of Independence, and British ships cut off the French supply of American potash. With gunpowder and textile industries dependent on potash, France had to find a way to make artificial alkali. 

Leblanc s process survived him. Within several decades, it was almost the only one used to produce washing soda for the textile, soap, glass, and papermaking industries. And eventually his synthetic sodium carbonate put the barilla and kelp collectors out of business. 

Soda as well as potash have also been made, since early antiquity, by burning weeds until only their ash remains - thus known as either soda ash or potash ash. The ash may also contain as much as 5% of sodium or potassium carbonate. Kelp, a large seaweed of the order Laminaria, and barilla plants, of the genus Salsola, which grow on many seashores, have... 

With very few exceptions, naturally occurring acids and alkalies are weak. All acids known in antiquity were of organic origin some occur in fruits, especially in unripe fruitjuices. Most ancient alkalies were derived from the ash of plants such as barilla, Salsola soda and Salsola kali (Russian thistle), and kelp. 

Near the end of the eighteenth century the difference between the two fixed alkalies—potassium and sodium carbonates—was known sodium carbonate barilla was largely made from the ashes of sea plants, and potash from the ashes of land plants. The Arabs also had brought some natural soda into Europe, via Spain. These sources were not sufficient to cope with the demand for alkali for the manufacture of soap, glass, etc. Potash was at that time the cheaper and dominant alkali. With the steadily increasing demands for alkali and the very limited sources of supply presented by the incineration of wood, many attempts were naturally made to substitute the base of common salt, because that with a suitable method of extraction nature has provided inexhaustible, abundant, and cheap... 

In the early days black ash was sent direct to the soap-makers and for a time was known as British barilla. The product deteriorated rapidly when kept, and does not now appear as an article of commerce. Black ash contains 40 to 45 per cent, of sodium carbonate 30 to 33 per cent, of calcium sulphide 2 to 6 per cent, of calcium oxide 6 to 10 per cent, of calcium carbonate. G. E. Davis 4 gives for the analysis of a sample ... 

Potassa and Soda.—The alkalies used in the manufacture of common colored glass, such as thoso used for grecn bottles, are obtained, as far as the potassa is concerned, from common ashes, and tho soda from tho ashes qf eea-plants, or refuse soda. Better kinds of glass are made with crude potassa and soda-ash, and the best from purified potassa and soda-ash.. Not more than thirty years have elapsed since crown and sheet glass were manufactured from the crude alkali obtained from kelp, the preparation of which for. this purpose. employed a large population on the Northern shores of Scotland and West of Ireland, and the abandonment of this material, when the duty was taken off barilla,... 

While it thus happened that other nations were almost entirely dependent upon Spain for a suppIyofacda,Great Britain produced large quantities of native soda under the form of kdp, tbe manufacture of which was carried on at a very early period on the North and West coasts of Ireland, and later on the Western shores and islands of Scotland. This branch of trade was especially brisk at the commencement of the present century when, to meet the exigencies of the war, high duties were imposed upon the Spanish barilla. Tbe annual rental of the kelp shores of the island of North Uist alone amounted at this timo to seven thousand pounds and at one period the entire quantity of 1edj> produced in Scotland, and ita adjacent islands, was estimated at more than tweuty-five thousaud tens annually. Still, the quantity of native soda thus obtained woe not sufficient to supply the demands of commerce and even in 1834, some years after the introduction of artificial node, barilla was imported to the amount of upwards of twelve thousand tons. - But more especially was France dependent upon Spain for supplies of... 

The method to be followed in the employment of this acid is as follows —The dilute acid is to be measured in the tube up to the itoe opposite to which the alkali sought for is marked if barilla, wiiioh contains carbonate of soda, 64-63 measures are to be taken. The one hundred measures are then made up by the addition of water, and is then ready for use. But these processes, which constitute a very important branch of commercial analysis, have been fully disoussed under Alkalimetry in connection with the article POTASSA,... 

Laurie Barclay, MD Neurologist, Neurological Consulting Services, Tampa, Florida Christopher Barillas Senior Editor, GayHealth.com, New York, New York... 

Madani S, Barilla D, Cramer J, Wang Y, Paul C. Effect of terbinafine on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of desipramine in healthy volunteers identified as cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) extensive metabolizers. J Clin Pharmacol 2002 42(ll) 1211-8. 

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