Soda Ash and Caustic Soda

Octavia opened the bag, took out several packets wrapped in cotton cloth, and after unwrapping them, found several whitish powders.

Veronica carefully examined the piles of powder. Although they contained many impurities, they were clearly purer than the plant ash she had experimented with before.

"Miss, the sodium carbonate in this plant ash is so pure that it's much easier to purify. We can get super pure sodium carbonate by using the recrystallization method you taught us."

Veronica nodded and asked directly, "Octavia, did you purify it? Show me the finished product!"

Octavia playfully stuck out her tongue. "Not yet, Miss. We're not very familiar with the recrystallization process yet. We hope you can show us how to do it again!"

Veronica looked at Octavia helplessly. This recrystallization method was very simple, and Octavia and the others had done it many times before. How come they couldn't do it now?

Veronica easily understood that Octavia was flattering her, trying to get her to complete the most important step in the preparation of caustic soda.

"Octavia, this is the only time. I don't need these honors. Remember to write your names in the lab log."

"Okay, okay, Miss, this is what we all agree on. After all, you taught us how to select them from the very beginning. If you weren't so busy, you would definitely have been the first to discover Salt-leaf Tree."

Let's get started, we'll help you out!

Octavia then helped Veronica put on a white linen coat, and the other three brought over the materials and equipment.

Veronica began the operation, with Octavia assisting her.

The first step involves Veronica dissolving crude sodium carbonate in hot water, which Octavia then stirs until saturated.

The second step was to filter the mixture while it was still hot using a filter cloth to remove insoluble substances such as mud, sand, and charcoal.

The third step involves heating the filtrate until it is evaporated and concentrated. Since the material still contains a lot of sodium chloride, Veronica also uses the difference in solubility between the two to filter out the sodium chloride in advance. Finally, after cooling, relatively pure sodium carbonate crystals are precipitated.

The final step involves heating the crystals to over 200 degrees Celsius to dehydrate them, yielding anhydrous sodium carbonate.

Veronica looked at the pure white powder in the glass container. According to Victor's description, this should be high-purity sodium carbonate.

Several hours had passed, and it was getting dark. Veronica decided to rest for a while and continue after dinner.

Fortunately, the paper mill had enough food. Veronica's maid prepared a simple dinner for everyone, and everyone, including another group of Research Institute studying long-stemmed reeds, ate their meal directly in the factory.

During lunch, Lysander, the leader of another group and also a student of Veronica, reported to Veronica on their recent achievements.

"Miss, the research on reeds is going very well. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, we can start planting them next spring. These long-stemmed reeds are not picky about the planting site and are tolerant of saline-alkali soil."

We plan to use the mudflats at the mouth of the Great Fish River for planting. That mudflat stretches for several thousand square kilometers north of the Great Fish River, which should meet the Viscount's requirements.

Veronica nodded. "Lysander, you have great talent and you love studying plants. You should go to the Plantation Research Institute. I will recommend you to the institute after this project is completed."

"Teacher, please don't send me away. I want to stay by your side and continue learning!"

"Lysander, don't say that. You're the youngest, only 11 years old. Even if you go to the Plantation Research Institute, you'll still need to learn. When Victor comes back, the next stage of the education system will begin, and I will still be your teacher then."

Besides, it will take at least another year for this project to be completed, so let's not be too childish.

"But teacher..."

Octavia reached out and ruffled Lysander's spiky hair. "Little hedgehog, stop trying to be cute with your teacher. You know our group has already made a major breakthrough!"

Don't fall too far behind us, or you'll hold us back.

Lysander slapped Octavia's hand away and said in a harsh voice, "You crazy woman, our group won't hold us back, just you wait and see!"

Then the two of them took turns pulling each other's hair.

Veronica smiled. They were still just kids after all. She really liked these students and enjoyed being a teacher.

Veronica glanced at the time and realized it was getting late, so she quickly clapped her hands to stop the two of them.

"Octavia and Lysander, that's all for today. Get some rest. I'll be back at the paper mill tomorrow morning to continue the next experiment. Lysander, your group can come and watch too. Consider it another lab lesson for me."

After arranging everything, Veronica left the paper mill by carriage, still habitually returning to Wood Fort Town to rest every night.

Driven swiftly by the coachman, the carriage sped along, with the Cavalry escorting it closely behind. These cavalrymen were all carefully selected by Victor for Veronica, the best among the Barbarians female slaves, skilled in riding and archery.

Inside the carriage, Veronica opened a box containing the sodium carbonate, or soda ash, she had made that day, all stored in glass bottles.

Fortunately, her carriage was designed and manufactured by Victor himself, using the best steel springs as shock absorbers and thick cowhide wrapped around the wheels, making it relatively stable and preventing the glass containers from shattering.

Veronica looked at the dusty glass bottle in front of her and remembered Victor's methods of glassmaking.

"Now that we have soda ash, glass manufacturing can be put on the agenda. Currently, all the glass products in the territory are purchased from outside, which are expensive and of poor quality. If we can produce some glass containers on a small scale, it will also benefit the territory's next research work."

So Veronica silently added glassmaking to her next work plan.

The next morning, Veronica returned to the paper mill in Riverside Village.

The entire research team began working with Veronica on the preparation of caustic soda.

The preparation of caustic soda requires lime slurry. Fortunately, the territory had enough limestone, so Veronica obtained a large amount of quicklime directly from the cement plant and began making lime slurry on site.

Once the lime milk is ready, add the soda ash made yesterday, mix the sodium carbonate powder with the lime milk, and heat to a boil for several hours to allow them to react completely.

After the reaction is complete, let it stand, then filter it with a filter cloth to remove the calcium carbonate precipitate, thus obtaining a sodium hydroxide solution.

Veronica and her colleagues then concentrated the solution by evaporation, and after cooling, solid caustic soda precipitated out.

Veronica looked at the final white solid in front of her, and carefully scooped out a little bit with the small spoon in her hand and dropped it into the water. It quickly began to react violently in the water.

Veronica took out a little more and burned it in the flame; the solid emitted a bright yellow flame.

Based on these reactions, Veronica finally concluded that their experiment was a success.

"We did it!" Veronica said with a sigh of relief.

"Yay! Great!"

"Marvelous!"

Everyone cheered. As members of the research team, they not only understood the significance of this material for papermaking, but also its other important uses.