OCR Text |
Show SOAP FROM COAL A German soap works, according to Dr. E. E. Free, has turned, from the slaughter house and the soil to the coal mine for its raw materials. In the ordinary process soap is made from fats and oils obtained from animals and plants. By a chemical reaction fatty acids are combined with caustic soda to produce soap. These fatty acids contained in the natural fats are all that are used from that source. Glycerine, also a natural constituent is given off as a by-product. Chemists have long- been aware that fatty acids could be produced synthetically syn-thetically from coal, but none of the processes known produced pro-duced the materials as cheaply as they could be obtained from the natural source. German chemists, however, now claim to have found such a process and it is said, the new "coal soap" will soon be put on the market. |