Copperas works

Copperas house, Limb Valley. Copperas (iron(II) sulfate) was manufactured here from the pyritic Ringinglow Coal seam, mined nearby. The copperas solution was used in the leather tanning industry.

Copperas works were where copperas (iron(II) sulfate) was produced from pyrite in coal and iron. The history of producing green vitriol, as it was known, goes back hundreds of years in Scotland.[1] In 1814 Steubenville, Ohio had 7 copperas producing manufacturers.[2]

Pyrite has been used since classical times to manufacture copperas. Iron pyrite was heaped up and allowed to weather (an example of an early form of heap leaching). The acidic runoff from the heap was then boiled with iron to produce iron sulfate.[3]: 267

The vitriolic waters of Fahlun (Falun) afford annually about 600 quintals of green vitriol (sulfate of iron), and a small quantity of blue vitriol (sulfate of copper).[4]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Agriculture, Great Britain Board of (1812). Agricultural Surveys: Renfrewshire (1812).
2. ^ A new and popular Pictorial History of the United States (1848)
3. ^ "Industrial England in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century". Nature. 83 (2113): 264–268. 1910-04-28. Bibcode:1910Natur..83..264.. doi:10.1038/083264a0. hdl:2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t63497b2h. S2CID 34019869.
4. ^ The encyclopædia of geography- comprising a complete description of the earth, physical, statistical, civil, and political (1841)