already receiving substantial royalties from the BASF.
14 Just how ‘interested’
he was however never seemed to be an issue and although the minutes of the
meeting recorded that the Commission ‘took notice’ of his declaration, he was
still asked for his continued participation.
15 The Commission obviously realised that there was just one practical form of fixed nitrogen available to
Germany viz, ammonia, but there were three sources; by-product recovery
from coking plants, the cyanamide process, and the BASF’s new direct
ammonia synthesis from her modern plant at Ludwigshafen-Oppau. The
allied blockade however had an additional affect on the German chemical
industry. By also preventing her imports of ‘pyrites’ (FeS, or Iron(II) Sulphide)
—the raw material from which sulphuric acid was synthesized—ammonium
sulphate fertilizer could not be produced so easily. The war therefore cut off
the German fixed nitrogen industries’ traditional markets and they began to
suffer seriously declining revenues. As far as the BASF was concerned, without
sulphuric acid most of her Ludwigshafen-Oppau plant would be out of production by the end of 1914. The blockade therefore immediately drove the
whole industry straight into the arms of the Nitrate Commission and they
shifted en masse from the production of fertilizer to the production of nitrates
for munitions via Ostwald’s process. The link between ‘fixation’ and the ability
to conduct war precipitating, in part, the description of the first European
conflict as the ‘Chemist’s War’.
13.5.1 The Industrialization of Ostwald’s Oxidation
of Ammonia
Ostwald’s process began with the oxidation of ammonia
16 in the presence of a
platinum catalyst at *900 °C according to;
4NH 3 ðgÞ þ 5O 2 ðgÞ ! 4NOðgÞ þ 6H 2 OðgÞ with DH ¼ À905:2 kJ mol
À1
of ammonia converted, with an almost complete conversion at just 4–10
atmospheres. The step was also strongly exothermic, making it a useful heat
source. The nitric oxide (NO) was easily oxidized to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 )
according to;
NOðgÞ þ 1=2 O 2 ðgÞ ! NO 2 ðgÞ DH ¼ À114 kJ mol
À1
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
247
14 Just how ‘interested’
he was however never seemed to be an issue and although the minutes of the
meeting recorded that the Commission ‘took notice’ of his declaration, he was
still asked for his continued participation.
15 The Commission obviously realised that there was just one practical form of fixed nitrogen available to
Germany viz, ammonia, but there were three sources; by-product recovery
from coking plants, the cyanamide process, and the BASF’s new direct
ammonia synthesis from her modern plant at Ludwigshafen-Oppau. The
allied blockade however had an additional affect on the German chemical
industry. By also preventing her imports of ‘pyrites’ (FeS, or Iron(II) Sulphide)
—the raw material from which sulphuric acid was synthesized—ammonium
sulphate fertilizer could not be produced so easily. The war therefore cut off
the German fixed nitrogen industries’ traditional markets and they began to
suffer seriously declining revenues. As far as the BASF was concerned, without
sulphuric acid most of her Ludwigshafen-Oppau plant would be out of production by the end of 1914. The blockade therefore immediately drove the
whole industry straight into the arms of the Nitrate Commission and they
shifted en masse from the production of fertilizer to the production of nitrates
for munitions via Ostwald’s process. The link between ‘fixation’ and the ability
to conduct war precipitating, in part, the description of the first European
conflict as the ‘Chemist’s War’.
13.5.1 The Industrialization of Ostwald’s Oxidation
of Ammonia
Ostwald’s process began with the oxidation of ammonia
16 in the presence of a
platinum catalyst at *900 °C according to;
4NH 3 ðgÞ þ 5O 2 ðgÞ ! 4NOðgÞ þ 6H 2 OðgÞ with DH ¼ À905:2 kJ mol
À1
of ammonia converted, with an almost complete conversion at just 4–10
atmospheres. The step was also strongly exothermic, making it a useful heat
source. The nitric oxide (NO) was easily oxidized to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 )
according to;
NOðgÞ þ 1=2 O 2 ðgÞ ! NO 2 ðgÞ DH ¼ À114 kJ mol
À1
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
247