Frank, Adolph

Frank, Adolph (1834—1916), German industrial chemist who developed the potash industry Ref Hackh s (1944), 355-L... 

Justus von Liebig (1842) spread the knowledge that potassium is one of the important plant nutrition elements. In 1861, Adolph frank started the first plant using the process he had developed for producing from carnallite - a potassium salt that could be employed as a fertilizer. When Alsace was returned to franco at the end of World War I, the potash works become French property, so that Germany lost her monopoly in potash. Potash production in Spain began in 1926 in Catalonia. In Sicily (Italy) kainite deposits were used for potassium sulfate production. In Russia, potassium production began 1931 in the northern Urals. In 1939, the Soviet Union took over potassium... 

More promising around 1900, however, was the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by calcium carbide to afford cyanamide, the process of Nikodemus Caro and Adolph Frank, particularly after Caro found that cyanamide applied to the soil reacted with water to give off ammonia. This also relied on electricity, particularly inexpensive... 

Dr. Baekeland granted a license to Condensite but would not grant one to the Redmanol Chemical Products Co. The latter was formed by Adolph Karpen for the production of phenolic resins, developed by Dr. Lawrence V. Redman and his associates, Frank P. Brock and Archie J. Weith. 

On April 30, 1925, the United Oil Gas Syndicate was formed to explore for oil on Jefferson Island. The S5mdieate, founded by Arthur Barba (1861 - 1936) and under the leadership of Frank Coleman and then R.J.B. Abshire, had started as an oil exploration company. The company became Jefferson Oil Development Company on November 10, 1926 and then the Jefferson Lake Oil Company on July 24, 1928. The firm had spent one million dollars looking unsuccessfully for oil. Approaching bankmptcy, the company, now under the leadership of A.A. Mayer, found sulfur in the center of Lake Peigneur. Jefferson Lake Sulfur wisely deeided to switch their focus from oil to sulfur. The first sulfur production from Lake Peigneur was on October 18,1932. The business officially became Jefferson Lake Sulfur Company on Febmary 17, 1940. The president was now Joseph Mullen, and Adolphe D Aquin was chairman. 

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