BUREAU OF SOILS. 223 



FERTILIZER INVESTIGATIONS. 



Tlie close connection between the problems of the Ordnance Bureau 

 of the War Department and this bureau in increasing supplies of 

 fixed nitrogen and sulpliuric acid is at once apparent. The nitrate 

 ])lant now under construction by the War Department is designed to 

 produce fixed nitrogen for fertilizers in time of peace as well as for 

 munitions in time of war. Cooperation in investigational work be- 

 tween this bureau and the War Department is necessary, therefore, 

 to avoid duplication of effort and the most economical expenditure 

 of both time and money in the disposal of such problems as arise. 

 Such cooperation has been very cordial on the part of the War 

 Department. 



Our experimentation in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen has 

 been largely confined to the production of synthetic ammonia. At 

 the Arlington Farm laboratory apparatus has been installed for ex- 

 periments with the Haber process, and these experiments have pro- 

 gressed to a point where ammonia has been produced. Optimum 

 conditions of pressure and temperature and the best catalysei" have 

 not yet been determined, but after numerous delays, due to inability 

 to secure deliveries of apparatus and materials and to the difficult 

 mechanical problems involved in the process, the work has reached a 

 stage where definite results may be confidently anticipated in the 

 immediate future. This work is being carried on with the active 

 cooperation of the War Department. Germany is producing about 

 one-third of her fixed nitrogen by this process, but so far as is known 

 there are but two installations in the United States for studying the 

 production of synthetic ammonia, one of which is the bureau's plant 

 at Arlington. In these circumstances this work assumes great im- 

 portance and is being pushed with the utmost vigor. In this investi- 

 gation the bureau has had the active assistance of physical investi- 

 gations in the bureau. 



In line with this investigation has been the study of the oxidation 

 of ammonia to nitric acid. An Ostwald apparatus was installed 

 and operated to the extent of demonstrating the fact, which has been 

 disputed, that commercial by-product ammonia could be satisfac- 

 torily oxidized in this wa3\ The bureau also joined with the Bu- 

 reau of Mines of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of 

 Ordnance of the War Department, and a commercial concern of 

 Syracuse, N. Y., in a joint investigation of the problem on a com- 

 mercial scale. This investigation was carried on in the Semet-Solvay 

 Co.'s plant. 



The Ostwald process gives at best a weak acid which must subse- 

 quently be concentrated. Moreover, nitric acid is difficult to handle 

 and ship. It seemed advisable therefore to investigate the possibility 

 of securing a nitrate end product instead of nitric acid. This work 

 was carried out at Arlington Farm with complete success. By using 

 the Ostwald reaction chamber and introducing above the catah^zer 

 an excess of gaseous ammonia, a fume of ammonium nitrate was 

 formed which when conducted through an electric precipitator was 

 readily collected as high-grade ammonium nitrate. This salt, in ad- 

 dition to being a concentrated nitrogen carrier for fertilizer pur- 

 poses, is being very largely used at present as a primary explosive by 

 England, 



