even though her supply of hydrogen was not entirely certain. Such was
Ostwald’s standing—especially as an expert in catalysis—that German
industry took notice and BASF immediately made an agreement with him to
investigate his process. This they did through a young chemist named Carl
Bosch. Bosch replicated Ostwald’s machine at BASF and charged it with a
fresh sample of his catalyst. At first ammonia was generated but it soon
stopped. Bosch was puzzled and so he repeated the experiment several times
always using fresh samples of the catalyst. Each time the result was the same.
Bosch had only joined BASF in 1899 but his report of April 1900 demolished
Ostwald’s infant, tracing the small mounts of ammonia formed to the
hydrogenation of iron nitride present in all commercial iron catalysts at the
time. Even at a pressure of 0.5 MPa (*5 atmospheres) catalysis failed to
produce ammonia. But Ostwald’s reaction to Bosch’s report was arrogant and
dismissive, …
when you entrust the task to a newly hired, inexperienced chemist who knows
nothing, then naturally nothing will come of it.
But he was soon forced to accept Bosch’s opinion and the patent application
he had submitted was withdrawn. Even so this application contained all the
ingredients for the successful industrial production of ammonia viz., elevated
temperatures, an appreciation of the role of high pressure, a metal catalyst and
circulation of the gases. Consequently, in his autobiography
15 he salvaged
some pride when he maintained that his efforts had at least established him as
the ‘intellectual father’ of the ammonia industry, although ….
I have certainly not become its real father, for all the difficult and varied work
needed to create a technically and economically viable industry from the right
ideas was carried out by those who took on the abandoned infant.
Over the next few years Ostwald withdrew from the ammonia problem.
When Haber approached him in 1904 with regard to the request of the
Margulies brothers, his lack of interest in the problem puzzled him but
Ostwald’s humiliation at the hands of the young Bosch explains why. Even
so, Ostwald did not inform Haber of the effect of the hydrogenation of the
nitride present in the iron catalyst, had he done so we may well not have had
a story to tell. 1901 saw a further attack on the ammonia problem by another
giant of the chemistry world viz., Henri Louis Le Chatelier. By 1900 the
physical chemistry of the ammonia synthesis was sufficiently well established
for Le Chatelier to calculate the necessary temperature, pressure and quantity
3 Germany and ‘Fixation’
89
Ostwald’s standing—especially as an expert in catalysis—that German
industry took notice and BASF immediately made an agreement with him to
investigate his process. This they did through a young chemist named Carl
Bosch. Bosch replicated Ostwald’s machine at BASF and charged it with a
fresh sample of his catalyst. At first ammonia was generated but it soon
stopped. Bosch was puzzled and so he repeated the experiment several times
always using fresh samples of the catalyst. Each time the result was the same.
Bosch had only joined BASF in 1899 but his report of April 1900 demolished
Ostwald’s infant, tracing the small mounts of ammonia formed to the
hydrogenation of iron nitride present in all commercial iron catalysts at the
time. Even at a pressure of 0.5 MPa (*5 atmospheres) catalysis failed to
produce ammonia. But Ostwald’s reaction to Bosch’s report was arrogant and
dismissive, …
when you entrust the task to a newly hired, inexperienced chemist who knows
nothing, then naturally nothing will come of it.
But he was soon forced to accept Bosch’s opinion and the patent application
he had submitted was withdrawn. Even so this application contained all the
ingredients for the successful industrial production of ammonia viz., elevated
temperatures, an appreciation of the role of high pressure, a metal catalyst and
circulation of the gases. Consequently, in his autobiography
15 he salvaged
some pride when he maintained that his efforts had at least established him as
the ‘intellectual father’ of the ammonia industry, although ….
I have certainly not become its real father, for all the difficult and varied work
needed to create a technically and economically viable industry from the right
ideas was carried out by those who took on the abandoned infant.
Over the next few years Ostwald withdrew from the ammonia problem.
When Haber approached him in 1904 with regard to the request of the
Margulies brothers, his lack of interest in the problem puzzled him but
Ostwald’s humiliation at the hands of the young Bosch explains why. Even
so, Ostwald did not inform Haber of the effect of the hydrogenation of the
nitride present in the iron catalyst, had he done so we may well not have had
a story to tell. 1901 saw a further attack on the ammonia problem by another
giant of the chemistry world viz., Henri Louis Le Chatelier. By 1900 the
physical chemistry of the ammonia synthesis was sufficiently well established
for Le Chatelier to calculate the necessary temperature, pressure and quantity
3 Germany and ‘Fixation’
89