Outcomes Respecting Ammonia Synthesis

Something should be said about sequelae to Kellogg s and Hydrocarbon Research s gasoline synthesis development efforts of the late 1940s. 

Hydrocarbon Research Inc., elected partial oxidation for the Carthage Hydrocol plant at Brownsville. After initial experiments that Hydrocarbon Research conducted at Olean, New York, The Texas Company assumed responsibility for further development of partial oxidation at its Montebello, California, laboratory, under duBois ( Dubie ) Eastman. For conversion of natural gas to gasoline by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, partial oxidation s advantage over steam-methane reforming lay in its ability to operate at a pressure approximating that of the synthesis, thereby essentially eliminating need for compression of synthesis gas. 

Over the years, pressures for steam-methane reforming have steadily increased, sustaining this approach s monopoly for ammonia synthesis based upon natural gas. This monopoly may well be the primary outcome, from an economic standpoint, of the joint Kellogg-Cities Service Synthol development effort of 1947-48. 

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