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Saltpeter Mine Ruins in Mammoth Cave. The process involved burial of excrements (human or animal) in the fields prepared for that purpose beside the nitraries, watering them and waiting until the leaching process did its job; after a certain time, operators gathered the saltpeter that "came out" to the ground surface by efflorescence.
Potassium nitrate was produced in a nitrary or "saltpetre works". [21] The process involved burial of excrements (human or animal) in a field beside the nitraries, watering them and waiting until leaching allowed saltpeter to migrate to the surface by efflorescence.
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula Na N O 3.This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) [4] [5] to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate.
New technological advances in the mid-1800s transformed the saltpeter process. Tanks that were used as part of the saltpeter production process. Michael Runkel/robertharding/Getty Images.
While La Palma became one of the largest saltpeter extractors of the whole region, Santa Laura did not do well, as production was low. It was taken over in 1902 by the Tamarugal Nitrate Company. In 1913 Santa Laura halted its production until the Shanks extraction process was introduced, which enhanced productivity.
Although saltpeter from new Prussian-style putrefaction works had not been produced yet (the process taking about 18 months), in only a year France had gunpowder to export. A chief beneficiary of this surplus was the American Revolution.
Saltpetre worker: A saltpetre worker produced potassium nitrate, an essential ingredient in gunpowder, by extraction from soil rich in dung and urine. [39]: 102–106 [188]: 18–25 [189] The arduous and expensive process of the saltpeter worker [190] was rendered uneconomic by cheaper imports from India. [188]: 133–135 Econom: 13: 18: Samurai
Nitratine or nitratite, also known as cubic niter (UK: nitre), soda niter or Chile saltpeter (UK: Chile saltpetre), is a mineral, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate, NaNO 3. Chemically it is the sodium analogue of saltpeter. Nitratine crystallizes in the trigonal system, but rarely occurs as well-formed crystals.