Brunck, Bernthsen and Carl Bosch—the latter, Herod to Ostwald’s infant
—all suddenly appeared in Haber’s laboratory. The three men examined
Haber’s machine and there were many technical questions. One in particular
Robert recalled much later in life
6 as Bosch enquired ‘What about the
totraum? ’—‘totraum’ being the dead-space behind the circulation pump
piston. Robert was surprised by this question, and he had to explain to Bosch
that the dead-space played no role in the ammonia ‘trap’ because liquid
ammonia behaved like water, thinking to himself at the same time … ‘You
don’t know that much, great Bosch!’. But once the questions were over,
Bernthsen expounded his concerns. How could BASF consider adopting a
process that occurred at (at least) 100 atm when they recently had an autoclave explode at just seven? When Haber then suggested that 200 atm—or
more—would be even better, Bernthsen was horrified, but he continued. As
far as the BASF was concerned, what Haber was suggesting was a process that
occurred on a continuous and not a batch basis, a process that demanded high
temperatures, extraordinary pressures, that to become profitable could not be
allowed to stop or even fail! Nothing like it existed in the known world of
technical gas reactions and coupled with that it depended on a catalyst that
was rare, therefore expensive, and hardly understood. Haber was crestfallen,
but then Brunck turned to the man who had been in charge of the company’s
nitrogen fixation research since 1903.
Bosch had been quietly assessing what had been put before him
throughout the day. He had listened attentively as Haber and Robert
answered questions about the process. Periodically he recalled his own efforts
into fixation. He knew how important the nitrogen project was for BASF, he
was their ‘golden boy’ but he had been working on fixation for almost seven
years without success. The arc process was predicated on cheap electricity
deals and was location dependent, other fixation processes were competing
and he needed a breakthrough to consolidate his position within the company. After he had debunked Ostwald’s experiments, he had even promised
his future wife Else [Schilbach] that he would solve the nitrogen problem,
37
but confronted with the Haber-Le Rossignol machine it was obvious that he
had lost the race to discover the technology. But neither could they solve the
nitrogen problem alone. That would require an industrial process, and
immediately a new direction in life opened before him.
Haber and Le Rossignol had the right mix for an industrial synthesis viz,
temperature, pressure and catalysis. But osmium? Surely an equally effective
catalyst could be found? Bernthsen’s concerns about the high pressure too were
serious but Bosch was a metallurgist, he understood metals and what they
could withstand. The Haber-Le Rossignol process was a ‘long shot’ but it was
8 The Big Fix …
173
—all suddenly appeared in Haber’s laboratory. The three men examined
Haber’s machine and there were many technical questions. One in particular
Robert recalled much later in life
6 as Bosch enquired ‘What about the
totraum? ’—‘totraum’ being the dead-space behind the circulation pump
piston. Robert was surprised by this question, and he had to explain to Bosch
that the dead-space played no role in the ammonia ‘trap’ because liquid
ammonia behaved like water, thinking to himself at the same time … ‘You
don’t know that much, great Bosch!’. But once the questions were over,
Bernthsen expounded his concerns. How could BASF consider adopting a
process that occurred at (at least) 100 atm when they recently had an autoclave explode at just seven? When Haber then suggested that 200 atm—or
more—would be even better, Bernthsen was horrified, but he continued. As
far as the BASF was concerned, what Haber was suggesting was a process that
occurred on a continuous and not a batch basis, a process that demanded high
temperatures, extraordinary pressures, that to become profitable could not be
allowed to stop or even fail! Nothing like it existed in the known world of
technical gas reactions and coupled with that it depended on a catalyst that
was rare, therefore expensive, and hardly understood. Haber was crestfallen,
but then Brunck turned to the man who had been in charge of the company’s
nitrogen fixation research since 1903.
Bosch had been quietly assessing what had been put before him
throughout the day. He had listened attentively as Haber and Robert
answered questions about the process. Periodically he recalled his own efforts
into fixation. He knew how important the nitrogen project was for BASF, he
was their ‘golden boy’ but he had been working on fixation for almost seven
years without success. The arc process was predicated on cheap electricity
deals and was location dependent, other fixation processes were competing
and he needed a breakthrough to consolidate his position within the company. After he had debunked Ostwald’s experiments, he had even promised
his future wife Else [Schilbach] that he would solve the nitrogen problem,
37
but confronted with the Haber-Le Rossignol machine it was obvious that he
had lost the race to discover the technology. But neither could they solve the
nitrogen problem alone. That would require an industrial process, and
immediately a new direction in life opened before him.
Haber and Le Rossignol had the right mix for an industrial synthesis viz,
temperature, pressure and catalysis. But osmium? Surely an equally effective
catalyst could be found? Bernthsen’s concerns about the high pressure too were
serious but Bosch was a metallurgist, he understood metals and what they
could withstand. The Haber-Le Rossignol process was a ‘long shot’ but it was
8 The Big Fix …
173