390 NO yes: nitrogen problem in relation to war 



much improved since, had fortunately been worked upon in this 

 country by the General Chemical Company, and shortly after 

 this country declared war, the company offered to the Govern- 

 ment the use of its synthetic process for the production of 

 ammonia. The company stated that they had so far perfected 

 the process — well beyond the point which the Germans had 

 reached before the European war — that they were able to operate 

 at a temperature of about 500° and at a pressure not exceeding 

 100 atmospheres. The Germans, before the war, were operating 

 at nearer 200 atmospheres and at a considerably higher tempera- 

 ture; and, as we have seen, higher pressures and higher tempera- 

 tures both add to the difeculties of the process. The Govern- 

 ment accepted the offer of the General Chemical Company, and 

 as a result of it a plant is being built to operate this process at 

 Sheffield, Alabama, which will have an output of about 20,000 

 tons of ammonium nitrate per year. The ammonia produced 

 will be put through the oxidation reaction, converting it into 

 nitric acid, and combined with more ammonia, because 

 ammonium nitrate is the one thing which is needed in very large 

 quantities at the present time. 



The arc process would seem especially suitable for the produc- 

 tion of nitric acid, as it is as simple as it can be chemically. The 

 installation is somewhat expensive, but the really serious objec- 

 tion to it, particularly under American conditions, is the very 

 large amount of power that is required. While the cyanamide 

 process uses 2.2 horsepower-years per ton of nitrogen, the arc 

 process uses nearer 10 horsepower-years. It can be economical, 

 therefore, only where very cheap power is available. In Norway, 

 where power costs about four dollars per horsepower-year, this 

 arc process is being carried out on a very large scale, and the 

 nitric acid is being sold partly to Germany, but mainly to the 

 Allies. 2 In this country not only would the cost be very great 



^ The export of nitrates to Germany is now limited to 8,000 tons of calcium 

 nitrate per year, while it is estimated that 112,000 tons (metric) per year will be 

 available for export to the United States and Allies. (Agreement signed April 

 30, 1918, by representatives of the Norwegian Government and the War Trade 

 Board, in effect May 10, 1918.) 



