AERIAL NITROGEN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 238, 2 July 1920, Page 7

AERIAL NITROGEN

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your issue of this date, the Prime Minister, in reply to a'miestlon •in tho House, is made to .say that'the Germans were using a secret process for the production of • aerial nitrogen "in their own country and in Norway."; If' Mr. Masse'y. had omitted Norway, little exception could have been taken to-his statement. In the latter,country tho processes in vogue are electric and known as the "direct aTc" of the "cj'anamid." The former was largely financed by' French capitalists before the war, while in tho latter process a considerable amount of British capital is invested. There is absolutely no secrecy in respect to either of. these processes, and very little, if any, German capital is employed. The secret process referred to by the Prime Minister is non-electric, and is known as the "Haber," which provides for combining nitrogen and hydrogen, under a pressure ot two .hundred atmospheres, to form, ammonia, using a special eataliet together with some other minor details, which are thfe secret points referred to. A French process on the 6ame lines has recently been patented, which is claimed to be an improvement on the Gernian method. This process involves a pressure of no less than a thousand atmospheres, for the purpose; of combining tho nitrogen and hydrogen' gases. A factory is going; to bo established to carry on-the French method in Cumboi'land, England, arid fourteen thousand acres of coal-bearing land lias been seoured to pro.yide the power, and for the manufacture of blue gas, for the production of the necessary hydrogen for fixing the nitrogen. In the "Arc 1 ' process the required liydropen is obtained from water direct, while the nitrous oxide gas is passing through the fixation towers, thus-involving little power and less labour to obtain it.

From all accounts the German proceed costs inore to fix a ton of nitrogen than the "Arc" system in Norway, owing to the cheap water power in the later country;, and tho Norwegians aro not at all disturbed at the prospect of opposition by either .the German or French systems. The chief objection to the "Arc" or Norwegian method, from an engineering! point of view, is the large amount of power required for. a given output; and if tire power had to bo obtained from coal, or even oost half the amount charged for Lake Col.eridjto power in Christ-. church, it would not bo a sound flnon-\ cial proposition. Tho ohiof advantages iiro that beyond 6ome limcstono, and the cost of peaking the finished article, tho bulk of tho work is carried on automatically, involving a minimum of labour. The only powers in Now Zealand suitable for this process are located in tho Western Bounds of Otago—l am, eto., J. OBCHI6T9N. June M, J520.