NOTES : NITROGEN PROBLEM IN RELATION TO WAR 393 



similar advantage in that it, also, requires materials which are 

 readily obtainable — soda ash, carbon, and the nitrogen of the 

 air — and requires no electric power, \\niile we have no very 

 definite information as yet as to the relative costs of producing 

 ammonia by the cyanamide and the synthetic processes, the 

 estimates of those who have developed the latter and the reports 

 that have come from Germany have indicated that the cost of 

 production by the synthetic process in normal times will be very 

 considerably less than that by the cyanamide process. It is 

 true that the synthetic process involves high pressures requiring 

 special machinery, but the other elements in it are more favorable. 

 The hydrogen that is required in the synthetic process is one 

 of its large elements of cost. It is therefore important to get a 

 cheap method for the production of hydrogen. The general 

 method which has been adopted in Germany is to reduce water 

 with coke, that is, to produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon 

 monoxide by the action of steam on coke and then to remove the 

 carbon monoxide. This may be done by mixing the gas with 

 steam and passing the mixture through suitable catalyzers, where- 

 by carbon dioxide and hydrogen are formed : 



CO + HoO = CO2 + H2. 



The carbon dioxide can then be absorbed out by scrubbing with 

 water under pressure. This is a promising cheap way of getting 

 hydrogen for use in the synthetic process. 



Finally, I would say that the nitrogen problem is by no means 

 a simple one, even at present. In order to supply our armies 

 with the necessary amount of explosives, we shall need to use all 

 our resources: (1) to continue and expand our imports on Chile 

 saltpeter; (2) to introduce as rapidly as possible by-product coke- 

 ovens; and (3) to develop at once new fixation processes. The 

 last is our most vital chemical problem. The development of 

 fixation processes is being largely done by the Government 

 through the Nitrate Division of the Ordnance Department. 

 The Bureau of Mines has also been carrying on extended investi- 

 gations in this direction; thus the oxidation process where the 

 mixed gases are passed over red-hot platinum gauze has been 



