CHEAP AMMONIA.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 2646, 3 May 1895, Page 4

CHEAP AMMONIA.

Nitrogen is the great element needed in vegetable lifo. The most common form of nitrogen is in ammonia, and the production of ammonia from atmosphere nitrogen has-been called the king problem of chemistry. This chemical is the "most necessary and costly part of all fertil ser?, and to produce it very cheaply and in 1 >rge quantities would be of gre-»fc benefit, solviug tbe problem of impoverished soil and food supply for future generations. The million of dollars made by Colonel Noith, the nitrate king, of London, from the nitrate beds off the Western coast of Peru has excited the chemists and inventors to the manufacture of some fertilisers that could equal this, but the nitrogen part has always been a stumbling block. .Experiments are to be made in a few weeks in Jersey City, of a new chemical process that will produce ammonia in very large quantities and at the same time generate g*s that can be u-.ed for illuminating pur poses. Ammonia, however, was what the inventor was after, and the generation of gas was somewhat unexpected. It is claimed th.it from coal, crude oi 1 , and lime, passed through certain chemical processes, most surprising remits have been obtained. By usiug 3352 pounds of coal, 125 gallons of oil and 852 pounds of lime, there can it is said, be produced 2000 pounds of bulpha'e of ammonia and 104,000 cubic feet of g*s, at a total cost of 22,11d015. A p>»rty of English capitalists and representatives of Q-erraan chemists have already arrived from abroad to examine into ths invention, which is creating much interest in the scientific world. The result of the practical test is awaited with a great deal of attention.