420 SECTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



After the Oppau explosion mixed salts containing ammonium nitrate 

 will probably be under the ban of many fertiliser dealers, although the 

 substances may be perfectly safe if their possessors are not sufficiently 

 careless or idiotic to attempt to remove them by the stimulus of a big 

 blasting cartridge. 



I can do no more than refer to the cyanide process, which is by 

 far the oldest fixation method and still attracts many investigators. A. 

 British company is continuing its experiments at Birmingham, and in 

 America cyanide is being made on a considerable scale from cyanamide 

 as a source of hydrocyanic acid for plant fumigation. The process 

 depends on a number of complex chemical changes, and further research 

 is required on the fundamental reactions involved. Investigations with 

 this object are being undertaken in the Fixed Nitrogen Eesearch Labora- 

 tory of the x\merican Government. 



In 1913 Germany consumed about 200,000 tons of nitrogen, of which 

 about 110,000 tons was imported in the form of Cliile nitrate. The bulk 

 of this was used in agriculture for intensive cultivation. From May 

 1921 to April 30 this year the smaller Germany of to-day consumed 

 290,000 tons, without the demands of her agriculturists being fully 

 met. The whole of this increased total was produced within the 

 country. Though the German Government pleads bankruptcy, the 

 Badische Company appears to have had little difficulty in finding money 

 to repair the enormous damage caused by the great explosion at Oppau, 

 and these works are now on the point of being again ready to produce 

 their full rated output. At the end of the present year Germany wil'I 

 have at her disposal an internal capacity for the production of about 

 500,000 tons annually, and will be entirely independent of all importa- 

 tion. In case of war, she will thus be assui'ed of the basic materials for 

 a gigantic production of munitions, together with enough fertiliser to 

 enable her to grow a very large share of her own food. 



Mr. J. H. West. — Raw Materials for Synthetic Ammonia: The 

 Manufacture of Hydrogen and Nitrogen. — There are two main sources 

 of commercial hydrogen, coal and water. Hydrogen from water by 

 electrolysis is very pure, but the capital cost of the plant is high, and 

 the consumption of electric energy is so great that unless cheap water- 

 power is available the cost of production is prohibitive. 



]Many coals contain about 5 per cent, by weight of hych-ogeii, 

 equivalent to 21,000 cu. ft. per ton of coal. On distilling coal in 

 retorts or coke ovens about one-quarter of the hydrogen is set free, 

 the other three-quarters remaining in the tar, oils, and ammonia. 

 Coke-oven gas, where available, is an excellent source of hydrogen, 

 which can be separated from it by M. Claude's ingenious process 

 of liquefying all the gases present except the hydrogen, after 

 having removed the carbon dioxide by absorption in water under 

 pressure 



The interaction of steam and hot coke gives water-gas, which con- 

 tains about 50 per cent, hydrogen and 42 per cent, carbon monoxide, 

 the yield being about 55,000 cu. ft. of gas per ton of coke. 



