NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS. 7 



Baskerville, 1 with reference to oil shales, has shown 2 that "the 

 principal by-product on retorting (under suitable conditions), 

 ammonium sulphate, will often more than bear the expense of 

 mining and treatment." This author reports an oil shale from 

 Montana which yields 41.5 pounds ammonium sulphate and 6 gallons 

 crude oil per short ton. 



In the dry distillation of peat most of its nitrogen is evolved 

 uncombined. On the other hand, by the adaptation of the Mond 

 process of distillation as much as 110 pounds ammonium sulphate 

 per ton of peat may be obtained. 



Recently proposed methods of synthesizing ammonia from 

 atmospheric nitrogen are undergoing commercial exploitation and 

 give promise of success. 



* ARTIFICIAL NITRATES. 



The recent rapid development in the manufacture of nitric acid 

 by the electrothermal fixation of atmospheric nitrogen has made 

 artificial nitrates commercially important. 



Three well-known processes are employed in the direct oxidation 

 of nitrogen to oxide — the Birkeland-Eyde, the Schonherr, and the 

 Pauling — the processes differing chiefly in the design of the electric 

 furnace and plant installation rather than in the chemical reactions 

 involved. 



It is claimed that the Birkeland-Eyde process of manufacture 

 yields 500 to 550 kilograms of nitric acid or 850 to 940 kilograms of 

 calcium nitrate for every kilowatt-year of electrical energy expended. 

 The Norwegian hydro-electric nitrogen companies now are utilizing 

 about 200,000 horsepower in the manufacture of nitrates and nitrites. 



The composition of commercial calcium nitrate, manufactured 

 by the Birkeland-Eyde process, is given in Table VIII. 3 



Table VIII. — Analysis of commercial calcium nitrate. 



Constituent. 



Proportion. 



Constituent. 



Proportion. 





Per cent. 



25.83 



12.47 



23.83 



.52 





Per cent. 

 0.41 







.71 





Insoluble (in hydrochloric 



acid) 



.51 











During the year 1910, 13,531 tons calcium nitrate were exported 

 from Norway. This is in addition to 2,000 tons calcium nitrate 

 which, it is estimated, is the domestic consumption for fertilizer 

 purposes. In the same year, 3,200 tons sodium nitrite and 1,074 



i American Oil Shales, J. Ind. Eng.Chem., 5, 73 (1913). 



2 Proc. Seventh Internat. Cong. Appl. Chem., 1910, Sec. IV; J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 1, No. 8 (1909). 



3 Manufacture of Nitrates from Air, Scott, J. Roy. Soc. Arts, 60, 645 (1912). 



