BASF and Haber

Not surprisingly, their work attracted the attention of BASF in Ludwigshafen. BASF was at that time the world s largest chemical enterprise with a rich history of pioneering accomplishments and a keen interest in virtually any kind of chemical 

As BASF also decided that it should not miss the opportunity to participate in the commercial development of the electric arc process getting under way in Norway, it concluded a cooperative agreement with Norsk Hydro, proprietors of the Birkeland-Eyde design, in December 1906. In the fall of 1907 the company set up an experimental plant at Kristianssand in southern Norway where it tested electric arc furnaces with power requirements of up to 450 kW. Any patentable increase 

In retrospect, it is remarkable how eager BASF was to support electric arc research and how reluctant its leadership was to pursue ammonia synthesis. Twenty years later Le Rossignol remembered how frustrating the beginnings of that cooperation were, and Haber himself noted in his Nobel lecture that the company 

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