The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television: the expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without it. In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers, relates the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and BASF, and examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry, our global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process, and its biospheric consequences.
Description:
The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television: the expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without it. In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers, relates the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and BASF, and examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry, our global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process, and its biospheric consequences.