104 TIIK XITROGEX rKOliUQU. 



teclinical operation proceeds smoothly, the impurities therefore 

 acting- catalytically. Calcium chloride has proved to be a 

 most efficient catalyst, the reaction velocity being markedly 

 increased and the temperature lowered to TOU° C 



As has alreadj' been stated, the substances prepared and 

 commercially marketed by the above three synthetic processes 

 were, in the first instance, intended to supplement the yield 

 of nitrogenous fertilisers, the sodium nitrate obtained from the 

 Chili fields and the ammonium sulphate, which was won as a 

 by-product when coal was carbonised in gas, shale, iron and 

 coke oven works and in the manufacture of producer gas. The 

 outbreak of the European War in 1914, however, necessitated 

 the use of an enormous quantity of explosives, in which 

 nitrogen jjroducts became of overwhelming importance, 

 chiefly in the form of nitric acid, for the preparation of nitro- 

 cellulose and nitro-aromatic derivatives, such as tri-nitro- 

 toluene, lyddite, tetra-nitro-aniline, nitro-naphtlialene, etc., 

 and, in the later stages of the war, ammonium nitrate, which 

 was the chief ingredient of the am^ional used by the Allies 

 and donarit used by the enemy. 



In its first stages the Allies, owing to command of the 

 sea, were able to satisfy their requirements by direct importa- 

 tion from Chili, but this was denied to the Germans, who were 

 therefore compelled to rely solely upon synthetic nitrogen. 

 The commercial realisation of the Haber process took place in 

 1913, and it is noteworthj^ in this connection that German 

 capital which had been invested in the Schonherr process was 

 withdrawn at this period, probably owing to their faith in the 

 new process, a faith which, as the sequel will show, was not 

 misplaced. The production of ammonia alone, however, would 

 have been of little assistance from the military point of view, 

 since the nitrogen was required in the form of concentrated 

 nitric acid. This substance could be, and was, obtained in 

 small quantity from the Norwegian arc process factories, but 

 concurrently with the investigations of Professor Haber into 

 the ammonia reaction, Professor Ostwald undertook a study of 

 the oxidation of ammonia by means of air in the presence of 

 catalysts. That this proved successful is now only too well 

 known, since the commercial realisation of the Haber-Ostwald 

 ammonia oxidation processes enabled Germany to prolong the 

 war to an extent which would otherwise have been, practically 

 speaking, impossible, since this material is easily by far the 

 most important munition of modern warfare. 



It will be seen, therefore, that these processes have a 

 significance and value as great in times of war as in those of 

 peace, and owing to this fact have already attained an import- 

 ance of a trulv national character, in that the Governments of 

 the Fnited Kingdom and the ITnited States appointed strong 

 Commissions to investigate the problem and formulate such 

 measures as were necessary to safeguard the nation, both n\ 

 peace and war, and render it self-supporting in this regard 

 in the same manner in which Germany had accomplished this 

 before war was declared. The increased output of these 

 processes under the stress of war is shown in the following 



