Evening star., 1921-04-03


and especially cottonseed meal: and
upon imported inorganic nitrogen IN
form of nitrate of soda from Chiie.
by-product coke oven ammonium SUI
phatc from Europe. and OF imported
synthetic nitrates.
inorganic nitrogen in the United States.
By-product coke ovens are most inn
portant to the future of America.
To-day the United States is getting
less than half it's peace-time inorganic
nitrogen requirements from coke ovens,
to the effect that the demand for such
nitrogen will grow faster than its pro-
uuctAun flom by-prouuct ovens. II
obvious that other sources must n
ways available to keep supply and de-
mand in step.
from coal in a manner similar to the by
product oven. The quantity is relatively
snail; a4as ra,n,e,, deserts of northern
Chile contain vast supply OF raw ma :
terial called Saliche.' from which the
soda or Chile saltpeter is refined. tari-
Gus estimates exist as to the extent ana
consequent life of these deposits. FRO
ductioh during the last hve years mas
been at the rate Of between 2,sG 1000 ant
3. coo 900 tons annually. AT this produe
ton rate the known supply will be sufti-
cient for between forty and seventy
years. However. the explorations upoi
which these figures are oaseu nave no
been as thorough or extensive as migh
be, and ii Is possible that the eHistine
reserves are considerably greater. IL l.
constantly becoming more ana NOR
difficult, however to obtain the ma
teriaL In 1901 the average nitrate con
tent of the caliche refined amounted tt
% per cent: in 1909 it amounted 10 Only
4 n TvH n1I2
nitrate produced by an individual labor
&C was seventy three tons per yeaI
while in 1911 it had fallen to fifty-s'>
tsn,s4; ts,4,,. s,,,,v q, materia, has been Of
tremendous importance in the develop
ment Of the chemical. as we'll as OF tnt
! fertilizer industry. The present era o.
explosives, dyes, artificial leather, etc.
is dependent upon the REACTION betweef
some base and nitric acid. And practi-
up to the world war. and all of it uset
in that war. except by Germany, was
made from Chilean sodium nitrate. Ant
even today entire dependence. excep:
by Germany, is had on this material foi
the manufacture of nitric acid. We art
at present able, however. to manufac-
;; ture nitric acid from ammonia. although
at increased cost, and our absolute de-
pendence upon sodium nitrate is thus
stopped. II is also possible to produce
sodium nitrate from domestic nitrogen
Again, sodium nitrate was practi-
cally the first inorganic nitrogen com
pound used in fertilizer. and today i:
very largely used for this purpose.
During the war the United State.
was absolutely dependent upon i'm
Is per cent of it's inorganic nitrogel
demand, and imported during 1915
some 2, 200, 900 tons of nitrate. or two
thirds of the entire Chilean produc-
| tien.
uDRIOR to the war fairly large
quantities of this materia
| were imported from England. as thai
country was not apparently able te
utilize all Of its product. The war
however, forced her to grow more
crops rather than to import them. anC
her only salvation was to use more
| fertilizer as we'll as till more land
| As q consequence. expectation stopped
and it seems probable that economic
! conditions will force her in the future
1.-The European countries have ap,
parently been more alive to the
nitrogen problem than the United
| States. They have erected plants an(
produced fixed nitrogen materials ir
such quantity that some could be ex.
! Canada. The amount imported intt
| the United States has not been yer,
large, but 1t is and will probably con
tinue to be in constantly increasing
amounts.
Chemists have long recognized the
atmosphere, of which four-fifths i.
nitrogen. as the huge reservoir thai
must ultimately be relied upon te
supply our needs in the way of nj
| trates or other fixed nitrogen com,
| pounds. The very aloofness OF nj,
, trosen or it's refusal to combine ol
stay combined with other elements
| which gives it SO much value in ex.
| plosives. on the other hand. causes
| tremendous difficulty relatively in
| Harvesting it. The artificial fxatior
| of atmospheric nitrogen by chemical
| or electro-ehemieal means has, how.
! ever, been developed in recent years
| and several methods are in actual
! operation.
"In all cases it is necessary to
force the combination of nitrogen
| with some other material This com
,, bined nitrogen can then be rnanipu-
lated chemically. SO as to PFeduce the
! desired material
There is every reason to believe
/ that the government will eventually
increase the size of the nitrogen re.
| arch laboratory out on Massachu-
setts avenue. until it becomes the
| greatest institution Of it's kind no,
only on the western hemisphere, bu,
! In the entire world.