Nitrogen from the Air.

Wairoa Bell, Volume XX, Issue 219, 18 February 1908, Page 4

Nitrogen from the Air.

In a recent Consular report a very interesting account ifs given by Mr Pierce, the American Minister at Christiana, of; the working of the plant established at Nottoden, in Norway, for. the production of nitrate salts by the oxidation of the free nitrogen in the air by the BirklandEyle process. When Mr Pierce visited the works, the entire plant was not yet in operation, but nitrate of lime and soda were being manufactured on a scale of about 1000 tons a year, and the commercial success of the process had been so far demonstrated that a new and larger plant was being installed which would be capable of producing 20,000 tons of basic nitrate of lime per annum. Tho output, it is said, finds a ready market especially in Germany, as a fertiliser and the company, which is largely financed by French .capital, is projecting further large works, with a plant of 250,000 horse-power* Of course, the possibility of obtaining nitrogen from the air by means of high power electric discharges was demonstrated many yfears ago, but this is practically the first time it has been attempted on a commercial scale, and if the method proves a success it must have important results.