CHEMICAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G FEBRUARY 25, 1 943
V O L U M E 21
NUMBER 4
: Walter J. Murphy / Editor :
N e w Horizons in Nitrogen A R T H U R M . S M I T H , Synthetic Nitrogen Products Corp., New York, N. Y.
T
HE first world consciousness of a nitrogen problem was that o f shortage, culminating in predictions of the ultimate starvation of the human race at the end of a losing conservation economy. When commercial fixation of atmospheric nitrogen was established extensively, the picture changed to one of competition for the known existing markets. Sales pressure reduced prices and stimulated research for new uses, both industrial and agricultural. The broadening uses and markets for nitrogen increased
steadily, until in the summer of 1939 there was evidence that utilization might soon equal the then existing production capacities. The present war, emphasizing national needs, has created new national production capacities in the United States and in many other countries. In the United States, and collectively throughout the world, these new production capacities vastly exceed all previously known peacetime requirements for nitrogen. Moreover, many of these factories, strategically
and economically located with reference to raw materials, will establish new record low costs of production. Prewar Distribution in the United States In the fiscal year 1929-30 the total nitrogen used in fertilizers was 316,000 tons (N), of which 65 per cent was in mixed fertilizers and 35 per cent was used as materials. In the year 1931-32 this had dropped to 182,000 tons (N), owing
W I D E W O R L D P H O T O S . INC.
Nitrate Plant N o . 2 at Muscle Shoals, Ala., with Wilson Dam in backsround
Spring Meeting of the A . C. S., Detroit, M i c h . , April 12 to 16, 1943
to the depression and a reduced demand for fertilizers. By 1935-36 it had in creased to 317,000 tons, 5 2 per cent in mixed fertilizers and 48 per cent as ma terials. T h e year 1937-38 may be considered as free of war influence and probably representing a permanent minimum level of use. In that year United States agri culture used approximately 356,000 tons of nitrogen of chemical origin, industry used approximately 144,000 tons, and exports amounted to 43,000 tons. The total consumption of chemical nitrogen was 543,000 tons. The imports for that year were about 192,000 tons. With due allowance for carry-over of stocks, it is apparent that United States production of chemical nitrogen had reached a level of between 350,000 and 375,000 tons of nitrogen per year, with some unused capac ity above that figure. Agriculture has normally consumed from 2.5 to 3.0 times as much nitrogen per year as was used for all industrial pur poses. The expansion of production facili ties to meet the war needs presents a postwar problem that is both a challenge and an opportunity to all chemists and agronomists who are experienced in the production and use of nitrogen compounds. Postwar Nitrogen Picture T h e postwar picture includes the en larged capacities of the prewar commer cial nitrogen plants, both by-product and synthetic; the possibility that t h e Gov ernment-owned war plants may b e oper ated sufficiently to maintain them in first-class operating (not stand-by) con dition; and imports. Imports from Chile will probably continue; those from Can ada may, due to increased production capacities, be in larger volume than during the prewar years. W e may anticipate in the postwar years a production capacity of approxi mately twice our recent prewar consump tion, and perhaps equal to three times our prewar production capacity. Production will be large, supply will exceed demand, prices will be lower; and competition will be keen. Old types of nitrogen materials will be seeking new outlets and new types of materials will be developed for specific uses. Chemists of the nitrogen industry and of the fertilizer industry will b e asked to d o their part to help more people benefit by a larger use of nitrogen-con taining products. It is not too early for research chemists, or operating chemists who can devote part of their time to future work, to give
thought to plans for meeting the oppor tunities and responsibilities of a larger nitrogen production. The N e e d for Research Many new uses for nitrogen compounds will be found; but it will require t h e best that c a n be done t o convert this necessary wartime production capacity t o its optimum peacetime utilization. Nitrogen plants located in or near t h e soft-coal fields, and using the steam-coke process for hydrogen, could be operated partly or even entirely to produce meth anol. To the extent that this is done they would be removed from nitrogen produc tion, and thereby reduce the apparent surplus. It would also relieve in part the drain on our mineral oil resources since methanol is a good motor fuel. New industrial procedures in which nitrogen is used in processing t h e prod ucts of other industries, new nitrogen compounds both mineral and organic, and new products containing nitrogen have developed at such a rapid rate in recent years that the war has, in its net effect, retarded rather than stimulated industrial uses for nitrogen other than in explosives. I n the postwar years it is t o b e expected that this trend will be re sumed, and will rapidly increase the in dustrial nitrogen requirements. A t pres e n t a conservative estimate would be a p proximately 35 per cent over prewar levels; but the probabilities point to a doubling of the prewar industrial con sumption within ten postwar years. The wartime problems of substitutions and the use of alternative materials and products are giving many valuable re search leads, that will later be developed into new and competitive productions. But even with the most that can b e done in diverting nitrogen plant capaci ties to other products, and in developing new industrial processes and products t o u s e nitrogen, there will remain the prob lem of and t h e opportunity for a greatly increased use of nitrogen in agriculture a t lower prices. In agriculture, as in industry, the price per pound of nitrogen to t h e users is an important factor in determining its use and t h e quantity consumed annually. T h e effect of nitrogen at 10 cents or less per pound t o the consumer cannot b e adequately estimated at this time; but t h e trend will be toward a more liberal use o f all forms of nitrogen. All research workers in charge of field experiments, a n d all who administer the research budg
ets, should review t h e d a t a from the varying rates of application of nitrogen, and recalculate the m o s t profitable rates of application on the basis o f lower cost nitrogen in relation to both minimum and maximum crop prices during recent years. The agricultural possibilities are, how ever, n o t limited merely to the use of more nitrogen per acre on crops that usually receive nitrogen in the fertilizer. I n the milk-sheds of the large cities low-cost chemical nitrogen has been converted into digestible protein a t a profit b y the use of nitrogen fertilizers in t h e intensive system of pasture management. With nitrogen delivered to t h e farms at lower prices curing the postwar years t h i s use will undoubtedly increase a n d m a y be found profitable even for beef cattle and other livestock. In Europe, from 1920 to 1930, when increasing quantities o f nitrogen fertiliz ers were seeking a market, i t was found that many varieties of grain were incap able o f utilizing the heavier applications of nitrogen. Plant breeders developed new strains and hybrids with shorter thicker stems to hold the heavier beads without lodging until ripe for the harvest. Plant breeding work of this t y p e requires several seasons; and it would seem prac tical t o canvass the experiments n o w in progress to determine what needs t o be done. Major changes in processes, prices, and production capacity of any fertilizer ma terial have always influenced American fertilizer manufacturing methods. A vastly increased production of nitrogen at lower cost, sold at lower prices, will undoubtedly influence fertilizer mixing practice. Sanitation in the slaughterhouses that made tankage available as a feed material; the introduction of cyanamide; the rapid development of by-product coke ovens during World War I; t h e introduction of hygroscopic synthetic nitrogen materials; the marketing of anbydrous ammonia, liquors, and solutions; t h e substitution of 60 per cent muriate for kainite, manure salts, a n d 50 per cent muriate; the grad ual elimination of most of t h e materials that contained appreciable amounts o f the minor and trace elements—each of these in turn has caused changes in fertilizer factory methods and practice, and most of them within the memory o f those now active i n the work. The significance, if a n y , of t h e trend in the percentage of fertilizer nitrogen ap plied i n mixed fertilizers and a s materials CONTINUED
ON PAGE 2 8 0
T h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY assumes no responsibility for t h e statements a n d opinions advanced b y contributors t o its publications. Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Publication Office, 20th & Northampton Sts., Easton, Penna. Editorial Office, 1155 1 6 t h St., N W., Washington, D. C ; Telephone, Republic 5301; Cable, Jiechem (Washington). Advertising Department, 332 West 42nd St., New York, Ν. Υ.: Telephone, Bryant 9-4430. Entered as second-class matter a t the P o s t Office at Easton, Penna., under t h e act of March 3 , 1879, a s 24 times a year o n the lOth and 25th. Acceptance for mailing a t special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3 , 1917, authorized July 1 3 , 1918. Annual subscription rate, $2.00. Foreign postage t o countries n o t in t h e Pan American Union, S0.60; Canadian postage, S0.20. Single copies, SO. 15. Special rates to members. N o claims can be allowed for copies of journals lost in the mails unless such claims are received within 6 0 days of the d a t e of issue, and no claims will be allowed for issues lost as a result of insufficient notice of change of address. (Ten d a y s ' advance notice required.) "Missing from files" cannot b e accepted as the reason for honoring a claim. Charles L. Parsons, Business Manager, 1155 16th St., N. W., Washington, D. C., U. S. A.
216
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N e w Horizons in Nitrogen CONTINUED FKOM PAGE 2 1 6
is worthy of careful study by all chemists in the fertilizer industry. I n the year 1925-26, 65 per cent of the nitrogen was used in mixed fertilizers and. 35 per cent as materials; in 1940-41, 54 per cent was used in mixed fertilizers and 46 per cent as materials. Is the answer in the field of the chemist or of the economist; or both? Is it due to inability to obtain satisfactory condition of the mixed fertilizer when high nitrogen percentages are included, or t o the real or supposed reversion of phosphoric acid? T o what extent is it due to the pressure of increased quantities of low-cost mineral nitrogen seeking a market, faster than the industry could learn how to put it in the complete fer tilizer, or faster than salesmen could sell the farmers on higher nitrogen in complete fertilizers? Whatever the answer, this problem will again be demanding attention. Now, while there is time for careful planning and research, is the time to consider the problem and how to meet it, to the na tional advantage, to the advantage of chemists and business men, and to the advantage of farmer customers.
The fertilizer industry has often been accused of being unprogressive in i t s manufacturing methods and unwilling to change, and of failing to take advantage of new chemical processes and procedures. These accusations are not warranted b y the facts. The fertilizer industry h a s made many changes; and as an industry has always been willing to change when ever there were sound business reasons for so doing. There is not and probably never will be complete uniformity of m e t h o d s in t h e manufacture of complete fertilizers. T h e probabilities are that in future t h e diver sity of methods will be even greater than heretofore. Waste materials a n d b y products that would not otherwise b e used will always find an outlet i n mixed fertilizers. That, in itself, keeps t h e fertilizer industry, as an industry, from becoming completely chemical. However, the day of a vertical integra tion of complete fertilizer production b y one or more operators within the industry is not far distant. Such a vertical inte gration i n plants located t o avoid back tracking of freights on raw materials a n d finished product, the transportation o f inert material, and the duplication of overhead and traveling expense, will even tually restrict semichemical methods of manufacture to localities where t h e waste materials and usable by-products origi
The f o l l o w i n g s y n thetic o r g a n i c chem icals are available in limited quantities :
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1,3-dihydroxypropane
l-bromo-2,3-epoxypropan8
1,3-dibromopropane
i-chIoro-2,3-dibromopropane
l-chIoro-3-bromopropane
l-chioro-2,3-epoxy propane
l-ciiloro-2-bromopropane
1,2,3-tribromopropane
1 -chloro-3hydroxypropane
tetrabromoethane
l,3-dibromo-2-hydroxypropane
l,3-dichioro-2-hydroxypropane
Various alkyl bromides and chlorides
uimmonia Argon Boron Trifh ride Butadiene Butane Butène 1 Butène 2 Carbon Dioxide Carbon Monoxide Chlorine Dimethylamine Dimethyl E t h e r Ethane Ethyl Chloride Ethylene Ethylene Oxidle Freon (12) .Helium Hydrogen
nate, or to the nearest fertilizer-consuming areas. Nitrogen factories located i n the natural gas fields o n or near the Gulf Coast would have the advantage of low-cost fuel and low-cost hydrogen from natural gas; in short, fixed nitrogen at a cost low enough to acidulate phosphate rock with nitric acid; where the phosphate rock and potash could converge at t h e nitrogen factory at a minimum cost for transpor tation; a n d from where t h e product would go b y low-cost water transporta tion t o the consuming areas. However, this vertical integration of t h e fertilizer industry need not necessarily be confined to a n y one area. There is much more re search that can be done t o determine what method of using ammonia, nitric acid, urea, and cyanamide is best suited to prepare i t for fertilizer use. Fertilizers have been mixed b y the present procedures because such procedures have thus far proved to b e the most practical and eco nomical. Probably these same procedures will continue in use for many years.
Need (or a National Nitrogen Policy We are now experiencing what is un doubtedly t h e last serious nitrogen short age this country will ever know. W e are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 8 2
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A NATURAL GAS PLANT is the illustration — might have been a unit for dehydrating propane, butane, gasoline, air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, refrigeration compounds, or other fluids. All these are treated with superior drying efficiency by use of FLORITE. Hard, granular, stable, non-corrosive, nonpoisonous, available in various mesh sizes. Selectively adsorbs 4 to 20% its weight of water — is regenerated by heating to 350 e F. Write for literature — names of important users in your own field.
THE HARSHAW CHEMICAL CO. Branches
V O L U M E
2 1,
NO.
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«FEBRUARY
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1945 E. 97th St.
1943
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281
New
WANTED . . . new etkïcal pharmaceutical products . . . for purchase or development. 1 1 Γ ELL- KNOWN, long - established pharmaceutical manufacturing or ganization i s interested in acquiring or developing n e w products— t o broaden present ethical line. If y o u have such a product, o r know of formula that: might b e developed, write in strictest confidence, giving merely the nature of the product, without divulging any other ciata. If what you tell us proves of interest, a meeting will be arranged, at 'which time your proposition will b e given fullest consideration. Address your reply to B o x 27-TP-2 IncL & E n s . Chem., Easton, P a .
Horizons in Nitrogen CONTINUED FROM PAOE 2 8 0
STATISTICAL figures on the present a n d projected production, distribution, import, and export of nitrogen are purposely omitted. F r o m A. C . f?. Meeting, Buffalo, N. V.
all agreed that never again shall this country h a v e a t o t a l production capacity less than that required for all normal peacetime purposes p l u s w h a t e v e r a sound military policy requires for war purposes. Because nitrogen is munitions a s well a s food a n d a g r e a t variety of use ful articles of m a n u f a c t u r e , it is necessary t o have a national nitrogen policy which will take into consideration t h e recorded usage of nitrogen, its relation t o popula t i o n t r e n d s , a n d its relation t o t h e na tional a n d international policies of our Government. T o m a k e such a national policy really effective, our nitrogen-production capac i t y at t h e close of the w a r should be k e p t as nearly a s possible in first-class operating condition, including by-product, prewar, a n d wartime p l a n t s . H o w best this can b e done w i l l require careful study by m a n y people; b u t we c a n give some t h o u g h t to t h e possibility of such minimum-scale op eration o f every plant a s to p r e v e n t de terioration. T h i s m u c h is certain, t h a t t o the e x t e n t t o which we a s chemists a n d / o r a g r o n o m i s t s can develop new and increased uses for nitrogen o n a sound
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Gas Analysis ΛΝ
INNOVATION in m a n u a l methods of gas analysis has been developed by the Burrell Technical Supply Co., 1936 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Penna. Catalysis supersedes slow combustion in s t a n d a r d gas analysis a p p a r a t u s a n d provides a safer a n d more a c c u r a t e method for determination of combustible compo nents usually determined in t h e slowcombustion pipet. T h e gas mixture is passed comparatively rapidly through a heated catalyst t u b e , a n d oxidation is completed in a few passes.
A TOTAL of 12,160 years of service will be recognized by t h e Standard Oil Co. of Indiana by presentation of gold pins to 668 employees during the first six m o n t h s of 1943. Six employees will be a w a r d e d pins for 40 years of service each, 68 employees for 3 0 years, 394 employees for 20 y e a r s , and 200 employees for 10 years.
Poe/fie Coast War Projects!
MECHANICAL, CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERS We need ixnraediately for important war projects, engineers experienced in design ing petroleum and chemical p l a n t s . You will b e assigned t o our home office or ganization. Permanency of position will be dependent u p o n ability.
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