November, 1912.] 



385 



PRODUCTION OF SULPHATE OF AMMONIA. 



Iu dealing with this subject the Journal of the Board of Agriculture 

 for October, 1912, says: — The report of the Chief Inspector of Alkali Works 

 for 1911 (H. C. 197, 1912) shows that there were 570 works or separate pro- 

 cesses for the manufacture of sulphate and muriate of ammonia in England 

 aud Wales, as compared with 543 in 1910 and 536 in 1909, the number having 

 steadily increased from 440 in 1904. In Scotland the number of such 

 works was 106. There were also 50 gas liquor works in England and five 

 in Scotland. 



Ammoniacal Results. 



Sulphate of nnimonia is chiefly obtained as a bye-product from coal. 

 When this is treated for the production of coal-pas or for the manufacture 

 of coke used in iron smelting, an ''ammoniacal liquor" results, which 

 forms the raw material for the manufacture of ammonium salts. The 

 distillation of the bituminous shales used in the Scotch paraffin industry 

 also yields a certain amount, and the ammonia produced in other manu- 

 factures in which coal and similar substances are used, in iron works, from 

 producer gas plants, and from crabonising, is also collected. The quantity 

 of sulphate of ammonia produced in the United Kingdom is shown in the 

 following table : — 



Source. 



1911. 



1910. 



1909. 





tons 



tons 



tons 



Gas works 



168,788 



167,820 



164,276 



Iron works 



20,121 



20,139 



20,228 



Shale work 



60,765 



59,113 



57,048 



Coke-oven woiks ... 



105,343 



92,665 



82,886 



Producer-gas and carbonising 









works (bone and coal. 



29,964 



27,850 



24,705 



Total 



384,976 



367,587 



349,143 



Increases. 



These figures show an increase over the production of 1910, with the 

 exception of iron works, which remained practically stationary. 

 The supply from coke ovens shows an increase of nearly 13,000 tons. Iu 

 1904 the production in coke-oven works was only 20,000 tons. The total 

 production in 1911 was 385,000 tons and 292,000 tons were exported, so that 

 the balance remaining for home consumption for all purposes amounted 

 to 93,000 tons, as comp ued with 84,000 tons in 1910 and 85,000 tons in 1909. 

 The exports of sulphate of ammonia are principally to the United States, 

 Japan, Spain, Dutch East Indies, British West Indies and Italy. 



Sources. 



The largest industrial source of sulphate of ammonia is still the 

 widely distributed and important manufacture of illuminating gas from 

 coal but the relative proportion as compared with the total production is 

 becoming less owing partly to advances in methods of gas manufacture 

 which permit of a greatly increased production of gas per ton of coal 

 carbonised and partly to the rapid growth of the more recent processes 

 for recovery of bye-products from coke-oven gases and from producer gas, 

 1VJ 



