My Italian: Chapter 544 Ammonia

Saltpeter ore contains potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate, which are raw materials for making gunpowder and an important source of agricultural fertilizers. For this reason, the importance of saltpeter mines has emerged, and the world's largest saltpeter mines come from the Pampas desert in Chile.

In the early years, war broke out between Chile and surrounding Peru and Bolivia because of this saltpeter mine. After a fierce battle, Peru and Bolivia finally realized the truth and ceded the mine to Chile.

Since then, the three countries have taken different paths, and Chile has also become one of the top three in South America. It is conceivable how much the saltpeter mine helped Chile. Because of this, Chile has also become one of the important partners of the British Empire, and the sales of the saltpeter mine are occupied by the British.

Other countries were dissatisfied with the British Empire's monopoly on the sale of saltpeter mines. Everyone is not a fool, how can they not know their intentions. Attempts to monopolize the raw materials of gunpowder have led to countries having to take their opinions into account when preparing weapons.

For this reason, on the one hand, countries put pressure on the British to try to get a piece of the pie, and on the other hand, they are also trying to find a way to bypass the purchase of saltpeter mines.

Among them, ammonia occupies an absolutely important position.

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen. It is a colorless gas at room temperature with a strong pungent odor and is easily soluble in water. Ammonia is also an important raw material for the manufacture of nitric acid, fertilizers and explosives.

Since ammonia is so effective, there are many people who naturally study the industrial extraction of ammonia.

In 1795, someone tried to synthesize ammonia at atmospheric pressure, and later someone tried it at 50 atmospheres, all of which failed.

In the second half of the 19th century, great progress in physical chemistry made people realize that the reaction of synthesising ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen is reversible, and increasing the pressure will push the reaction in the direction of producing ammonia: increasing the temperature will move the reaction in the opposite direction, However, if the temperature is too low, the reaction rate is too small; the catalyst will have an important influence on the reaction.

This actually provides theoretical guidance for the experiment of synthetic ammonia. At that time, the authority of physical chemistry, Germany's Nernst, clearly pointed out that nitrogen and hydrogen can synthesize ammonia under high pressure conditions, and provided some experimental data.

The French chemist Le Chatelier was the first to attempt the experiment of high-pressure synthesis of ammonia, but he gave up this dangerous experiment because oxygen was mixed into the mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen, which caused an explosion.

Although he gave up, someone still decided to continue the work, and Fritz Haber was the one who decided to experiment with ammonia.

His experiments are a little different, he never blindly follows authority, but relies on experiments to test. After some precise experiments, Haber finally proved that Nernst's calculations were wrong.

Since it is wrong, then he needs to correct it. After a long period of experimentation and thinking, Haber finally got a complete ammonia synthesis process.

By first blowing water vapor over the hot coke, an almost equal volume of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas can be obtained. The carbon monoxide is further reacted with water vapor under the action of the catalyst to obtain carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Then the mixed gas is dissolved in water under a certain pressure, carbon dioxide is absorbed, and relatively pure hydrogen is obtained.

Similarly, the water vapor is mixed with an appropriate amount of air and passed through the red-hot charcoal, and the oxygen and carbon in the air will generate carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and be absorbed and removed, thereby obtaining the required nitrogen.

Ammonia is synthesized from a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen under high temperature and high pressure conditions and under the action of a catalyst.

But what high temperature and high pressure conditions are best?

What kind of catalyst is the best?

This requires a great deal of exploration.

After constant experiments and calculations, Haber finally achieved inspiring results. That is, under the conditions of a high temperature of 600 ° C, a pressure of 200 atmospheres and osmium as a catalyst, synthetic ammonia with a yield of about 8% can be obtained.

The conversion rate of 8% is not high, of course, it will affect the economic benefits of production. I am afraid to know that the ammonia synthesis reaction cannot achieve the conversion rate as high as that of sulfuric acid production, where the conversion rate of sulfur dioxide oxidation reaction is almost close to 100%.

How to do? Haber believes that this process is feasible if the reaction gas can be recycled under high pressure, and the ammonia produced by the reaction can be continuously separated from this cycle. So he successfully designed the recycling process of raw gas, which is the Haber method of synthesizing ammonia.

When Haber developed a complete industrial ammonia synthesis technology, Carlo received the news immediately.

In fact, don't think about this kind of thing too complicated, as long as Carlo remembers the synthetic ammonia or the name of the person, someone will help him find it. First, check the existing German people who are conducting synthetic ammonia research, find a familiar name or check what the other party is doing, and then ask someone to find him, saying that he wants to fund the other party, and then wait for the results.

Basically no one will reject his goodwill, because doing research requires a lot of money, and few people get a sufficient budget. Anyone who can have rich and powerful thighs is willing to accept it.

In addition, Haber himself has a millionaire dream, and wants to make some money by inventing. Therefore, the friendship from Italy was also accepted immediately.

Therefore, after the completion of the synthetic ammonia industrialization research, Carlo was also very reasonable to get the news at the first time.

And Carlo, who got the news, of course knew its role.

What benefits human beings should be put aside first. At present, the cost of synthetic ammonia is not low. Even if you use it to make ammonia fertilizer, it will not be enough for farmers to use it. At present, the biggest role of synthetic ammonia is to replace the role of saltpeter in gunpowder.

Now that the research on the industrialization of synthetic ammonia has been completed, of course, Italy cannot be left behind. So Carlo called the captain of the guard. "Macron, let the Savoy Fund invest in the construction of the ammonia plant."

"Your Majesty. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com"

As for the king's orders, of course, as the captain of the bodyguard, Mackron will only obey. This is the experience of the captain of the bodyguard for many years. It is absolutely right to read less, talk less and listen more.

"Also have Harbor come to guide the construction of the factory."

Faced with the words of the king, McClane said. "Your Majesty, this may be a little difficult."

"What's the matter, isn't Hubbar willing to come?"

Carlo was a little surprised by the captain's words. He had read Haber's information. The chemist was a bit greedy for money, and he would pay a lot of money for the work of directing the construction of the factory.

"That's right, Your Majesty, Mr. Haber is now focused on selling synthetic ammonia technology to the German government, and may be reluctant to travel to Italy for guidance."

Although McKellen was very euphemistic, Carlo understood immediately. Haber believes that the technology he is researching is very important and valuable, so he is not willing to have any surprises until the benefits are maximized.

Carlo also understands the other party's thoughts very well, but he is a little unhappy in his heart. Could it be difficult for the Kingdom of Italy to make it difficult for him.

But it's going to rain and Niang wants to get married, so let him go. If you don't want to come, you don't want to. The Italian synthetic ammonia plant is built by itself.

In fact, when the synthetic ammonia technology was obtained in Italy, the German side also learned the news of Haber's successful research, and also learned that Italy had purchased the technology.

At this time, the promotion of synthetic ammonia took a different path. At the request of the German government, basf assisted Haber in the construction of the first synthetic ammonia plant, three years earlier than in history.

It seems that Italy's attention has made Germany follow suit.

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