NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS. 



It has been said that since coal will never be distilled for the sake 

 alone of the ammonia which its distillation liberates, the increase in 

 the output of ammonium sulphate will depend on the increase in coal 

 distillation. The inference is that the increase in ammonia produc- 

 tion with the increase in the coke industry will be in the same ratio of 

 ammonia to coke as exists in the industry to-day. This probably 

 will not prove to be the case, owing to the replacement of the old 

 form of oven by the by-product recovery type, both in old plants 

 and in those undergoing erection. 



At the beginning of 1912 there were 4,624 by-product coke ovens 

 in operation in the United States and 698 building. These were 

 distributed as shown in Table V. 



Table V. — Number and location of by-product coke ovens in the United States. 



Location. 



Number 

 of ovens. 



Number 

 of ovens 

 building. 



Location. 



Number 

 of ovens. 



Number 

 of ovens 

 building. 



Alabama 



340 

 480 

 540 

 200 

 400 

 162 

 50 

 150 



280 

 48 

 70 

 

 

 

 

 





556 

 174 

 1,292 

 120 

 160 







Illinois 



Ohio 







Indiana 





300 





West Virginia t 













Michigan 



Total 





4,624 



1 6t)8 













i Quoted from American Fertilizer, 38, 32 (1913). 



During the year 1912 about 155,000 short tons of ammonium sul- 

 phate were produced in the United States. In the same length of 

 time the United States imported about 60,000 tons, making a total 

 consumption of ammonium sulphate in this country of about 215,000 

 tons. 



The annual production for the United States for the last five years 

 is given in Table VI. 1 



Table VI. — Production of ammonium sulphate in the United States, 1908 to 1912. 



Year. 



Production. 



Year. 



Production. 



1908 



Tons. 

 83, 400 

 106, 500 

 116,000 



1911 



1912 



Tons. 

 127,000 

 155,000 



1909 



1910 







From this table it will be seen that the output for 1912 exceeds 

 that for 1911 by 28,000 tons, while the increase for the preceding 

 year was only 11,000 tons. It may be observed further that the 

 domestic output has almost doubled during the five years. 



The world's production of ammonium sulphate in 1911 had reached 

 the total of 1,187,000 tons. This, on the basis of a nitrogen content 



1 Quoted from American Fertilizer, loc. cit. 



