Norwegian Inventions Codexery

Birkeland–Eyde process

An early industrial nitrogen fixation process using electrical arcs.

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Birkeland–Eyde process

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The Birkeland–Eyde process uses electrical arcs to fix atmospheric nitrogen into nitric acid for fertilizer production.[1] It was one of several competing industrial nitrogen-fixation methods at the start of the 20th century.[1]

Quick Facts

Developed
1903
Inventors
Kristian Birkeland and Sam Eyde

Facts from the source article.

How it changed

Kristian Birkeland and Sam Eyde developed the process in 1903, building on Henry Cavendish's 1784 method.[2] An electrical arc was formed between two coaxial water-cooled copper tube electrodes powered by 5 kV alternating current at 50 Hz.[3] Air blown through the arc produced nitric oxide, with yields up to 4–5% at 3000 °C.[4] The nitric oxide was cooled, oxidized to nitrogen dioxide, and then dissolved in water to produce nitric acid.[5][6]

The absorption process used a series of four-story towers to produce approximately 40–50% nitric acid.[7] About 20% of the oxides remained unreacted and were converted to calcium nitrate using an alkaline lime solution.[7] In Norway, large hydroelectric power facilities were constructed alongside factories at Rjukan and Notodden that operated using this process.[2] For each ton of nitric acid produced, the process consumed roughly 15 MWh of electricity, with an output of about 60 grams per kWh.[8]

A powerful magnetic field forced the electric arc to flatten into a thin disk, raising the plasma's temperature beyond 3000 °C.[3]

What the maker and period sources say

A 1909 paper by Eyde in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts describes the manufacture of nitrates from the atmosphere by the Birkeland–Eyde process.[2] Birkeland published on the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen in electric arcs in the Transactions of the Faraday Society in 1906.[2] A 1914 book by Knox details the critical design of the absorption process and the use of packed column towers.[7] A 1906 paper by Remsen in the American Chemical Journal discusses the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen with reference to the manufacture of nitrates and nitric acid.[1]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Remsen, "The Oxidation of Atmospheric Nitrogen with Reference to the Manufacture of Nitrates and Nitric Acid", American Chemical Journal, 1906, p. 358–367 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Eyde, "The Manufacture of Nitrates from the Atmosphere by the Electric Arc—Birkeland–Eyde Process", Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 1909, p. 568–576; Cavendish, "Experiments on air", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1785, p. 372–384; Aaron John Ihde, "The development of modern chemistry", Courier Dover Publications, 1984, p. 678; G. J. Leigh, "The world's greatest fix: a history of nitrogen and agriculture", Oxford University Press US, 2004, p. 134–139; Birkeland, "On the oxidation of atmospheric n en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Plücker, "Ueber die Einwirkung des Magnets auf die elektrische Entladung", Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1861, p. 249–280; Worden, "Technology of Cellulose Esters", D. Van Nostrand Company, 1921, p. 870 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mellor, "Modern Inorganic Chemistry", Longmans, Green and Co., 1918, p. 509; "Industrial Nitrogen Compounds and Explosives", Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1915, p. 21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Webb, "Absorption of Nitrous Gases", Edward Arnold & Co., 1923, p. 20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Douglas Erwin, "Industrial Chemical Process Design", McGraw-Hill, 2002, p. 613 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Knox, "The Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen", D. Van Nostrand Company, 1914, p. 45-50 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Birkeland–Eyde process" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nitrogen fixation at the millennium", Elsevier, 2002, p. 2–3 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Birkeland–Eyde process (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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