The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-01-28
PLANTERS MAY GET !.
NITR0GEEFROMA AIR.
Renewed Interest In Scheme To
Develop Hawaiian Electric
iiaa Power Resources
Processes Now Used In Europe
May Be Installed BY Local
Engineer

Cyanamide Is a product resulting from
the artificial fxation Of atmospheric nj
.trogen by means Of the electric furnace !,
Cheap electric power is one Of the NO.
cessary factors in its manufacture, and
the primary materials required are lime
stone, coke and nitrogen gas. AS q fer.
tilizer, cyanamide holds a place inter
mediate between nitrate of soda and
ammonium sulphate. The possibility Of |
its manufacture on more extensive |
esale has been given prominence |
through the lack Of heterogeneous ferti-
likers since the war
J. T. McCrossen investigated the pos |
sibilities of eyanamide manufacture at |
the time the Hamakua Ditch PROPOSE
tion was put through eight or more !
years ago and visited some Of the Ger
man and other European cyanamide |
plants. Water power Is one of the es.
sentials for producing electric energy at |
low cost and il was then thought that |
the great waterfalls along the Hamakua |
and Kohala coasts might be harnessed |
and their power uesd for this purpose. !
Process Invented In Germany
The manufacturing of cyanamide was
developed by two German engineers,
Frank and Caro-, about ten years ago,
and they hold the basic patents cover
ing the process. The first operation is
to make calcium carbide by heating, a
mixture of burned lime and coke at
very high temperatures in the electric
furnace. The carbide is then. finely
ground and placed in closed retorts. and
again heated to.very high temperatures
in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen. The
< nitrogen gas is obtained pure either by
passing air through hot tube contain.
ing copper shaYings, or by the liquid air
PROCESS ~ a. .gi1,rs -. IL, ;yt.,tr,,
The cyanamide manufactured in this
manner contains thirty to thirty.fve
per cent nitrogen. II absorbs water
from the air and gives off ammonia
gradually. The best way to ship it long,
distances is to transform IL further into,
nitrate of ammonia. . "
Cheaper Nitrogen -
g3Cyanamide heated with water under
pressure, splits up into ammonia gas
and lime carbonate, and the neutral
salt, ammonium nitrate, is formed by
washing the ammonia with dilute nitric
acid which in turn is also made direct
from air by electric power. Ammonium
in shipment, or in storage.
At Niagara Falls a, factory is pro
duting cyanamide at cost of about ten
cents per pound of atmospheric nitrogen
fixed. Recent newspaper reports state
that the Niagara Falls plant is being en-
legged and that q number of new com
panies are being formed to manufacture
i cyanamide there and at other locations
where water power is available. A fac
tory TO produce ten thousand tons per
annum would cost in the neighborhood
Of half a million dollars, it has been
stated. .ala... .-,..-- .
Patents Soon Expire
y This renewal of interest is also due
in some measure to the fact that the
basic, patents held by Professor Frank
will soon expire by time limitation. Mr..
McCrosson visited the great cyanamide
factories u, at Ludwigshafen on the
Rhine in 1908, and after investigating
the process endeavored to secure the
patent rights for Hawaii. ..~
Professor Frank at that time refused
TO grant the use Of his process to any
conee-n whieh was not equipped to pro-
duee at least $4,000 electric horsepower
His observations had led him to believe
that atmospheric nitrogen could not be
economically fixed except by the use Of
giant installations. As the highest de-
velopment of electric power at that
time considered feasible by Mr.. MeCros-
! son and his associates did not exceed
1000 h.p., Professor Frank strongly dis
approved the proposition and the idea
was abandoned. f.. f.-. ...Is FL
Direct Current Used
Only direct current is utilized in the
atmospheric nitrogen transformation
process of Frank and Caro-. The pri-
mary installation must be one capable
of developing a tremendous volume
of power, but in its application the
power is split up into small units. There
were thousand or more small electric
furnaces or retorts in use at the Lud-
: wigshafen factory, and this plant was
much smaller than the great factories
that had been built in Norway,
I. One factor in the problem at that
time was that one man could care for
a very large number of retorts or fur
naees during the process of manufact'
ure, while smaller plants with less power
d and fewer furnaces had to have just
as many laborers,
Many improvements
In the last eight years there have
been many notifications and improve
ments in the process so that smaller
power installations can be economically
used. w., b. ...5. N .. g..
. Calcium nitrate is also manufactured
by direct current electric power under
process patented by Birkeland- EydC
and there are number of factories
D. in. operation for the manufacture OF
this fertilizer, chiefly in Germany an,
Norway. I'd. .g.ay nd f.,,. a.,