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Innovation Management in the Belle Epoque How Plasma Went Commercial in 1903

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Innovation Management in the Belle Epoque How Plasma Went Commercial in 1903 GREEN ENGINEERING VOLKER HESSEL1*, QI WANG1, JUERGEN LANG2 *Corresponding author 1. Micro Flow Process Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands 2. Innovation Management, Verfahrenstechnik & Engineering, Evonik Technology & Infrastrukture GmbH, Hanau, Germany Volker Hessel Innovation management in the Belle Epoque How plasma went commercial in 1903 KEYWORDS: Plasma, innovation management, N-fixation, Fertilizer, Birkeland-Eyde process, Industrial history. This article features a historic industrial development concerning chemical synthesis of nitric acid from Abstract nitrogen, the Birkeland-Eyde process, which was started up in 1903. The whole development was done at great technological risk and also at the financial risk of having not enough backup by investors. It is a truly systemic development which needed a full team with different skills. In a similar way, networking was needed to ensure to have investors supporting the costly development and scale-up. Already at that time, this was a multinational initiative and an ad-site evaluation of a multi-headed expert team gave the final decision. The decision, while aiming at thorough technological check, was finally guided by the motivation and interaction capability of the developers. Thus, the human factor was finally decisive in a complex systemic development. This historic recap provides a nice learning curve as well for today’s innovation management. BUSINESS CASE IN THE BELLE EPOQUE and so more food could be provided. The expenditure spent on food decreased from 60% in 1850 to 10% in 2009 (relative Innovation management is not an invention of our modern to total income). times, yet it virtually began with the industrial revolution. The In order to activate the inert molecule nitrogen for above time before World War I has been glorifi ed as Belle Epoque mentioned N-fi xation reactions, typically catalytic high- (1870-1914). Around the turn of the second-last century temperature processes are needed which is demanding in (1900), the industrialization of chemistry had just begun a many aspects and last not least on the construction materials. few decades ago and awaited still its greatest processes The activation energy may well be provided in another kind, to come. Chemical companies of the fi rst hour like the by use of a plasma. Plasma is commonly called the fourth Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning AG (the later state of matter, being an ionized gas with free electrons. Hoechst Company) and the Badische Anilin- und Soda- Plasma can be high temperature (arcs) or low temperature. Fabrik (later BASF) grew considerably in those years into the The latter is particular interesting as the bulk phase can be dimension which is now familiar to us. kept at low temperature while the electrons may A particular interesting industrial history chapter have several thousand degrees is concerned with the so-called Celsius and are correspondingly N-fi xation, the conversion of reactive. nitrogen from air to ammonia and to NOx/nitric acid to give The early attempts of Birkeland fertilizers (ammonium nitrate). and Eyde After the turn of the 1900 century, After the fi rst Cyanamide-based this changed the world and the processes (most well known is Haber-Bosch process become the Frank-Caro process) were the most widely used industrial developed to fi x atmospheric process for ammonia making. nitrogen in the late turn of the The provision of large amounts eighteenth century, a very fi rst of fertilizers on a bulk-industrial plasma process was settled scale has considerably in 1902 by the Atmospheric contributed to the growth of Air Products Co (USA). This mankind. From that point onwards, a faster population growth constitutes the fi rst large scale production initiative applying happened, as the cereal yield of soils was much improved electric arcs. Since hydroelectric power was at that time the 78 Chimica Oggi - Chemistry Today - vol. 34(1) January/February 2016 only way to satisfy the high energy demand of an industrial- – he gave enthusiasm to the staff so that they were working scale plasma, it is not surprising that the company was really hard and with passion. He also brought in foreign operated in Niagara Falls. The process failed due to too low experts as advisors. This engaged engineering team play had yield and too high power costs. The company got bankrupt. a vital role in documenting the results and developing the In 1903, a second trial on industrializing plasma technology for project to an industrial scale. means of N-fixation was started in Europe. This finally led to the first industrial process for N-fixation, the Birke-Eydeland process. Teamwork is the key The Birke-Eydeland process is a good example for innovation Yet, with giving credit to the inventors and their team of management. It exemplifies the fear to undergo a risky and engineers, we make a simplified picture of how innovation costly decision, yet it stands also for a glorious team which management really happens (Figure 2). It would ignore finally had the willingness to do so and made a quite unusual completely the indispensable financial side. In the autumn and unique industrial process possible. In this sense, this process of 1903, Sam Eyde and the Swedish industrialist Knut Tillberg, stands in the authors’ view for “Belle Epoque”. Especially in searched for investors and found interest both in Germany our current times, of cutting costs in Europe and somewhat and Sweden. Within a very few months, two Swedish investors, exhausted Asian markets, it would be good to restore that the half-brothers Knut and Marcus Wallenberg, joined positive spirit to allow us to undertake the endeavors which are the project. This led to the establishment of the company needed for good future. Thus, let us recap what happened in Elektrokemisk–Elkem, which is now a major international 1903 and the time after. supplier of metals and materials. The Swedish Enskilda Bank of Kristian Birkeland (1867–1917) and Sam Eyde (1866–1940) Stockholm provided the financial backening. were Norwegian citizens. This had to be so as plasma energy demands for provision of reliable high-energy sources and at that time only a country rich in strong waterfalls could guarantee that. Norway was undoubtedly the ideal place for that. Birkeland was, in a way, the brain and the inventor of the whole project. He developed the plasma process not only on a lab scale, but also managed to construct the large electric coils which were finally used for the production. He was seven SYSTEMIC times nominated for the Nobel Price (in Physics) without finally getting it, which must have been a torture for his psyche. Seven times the hope, seven times the disappointment. Einstein had virtually same fate, but finally with the triumph to get the ultimate scientific award which Birkeland never received. Figure 2. Teamwork towards a systemic solution and networking was needed already in 1903 to constitute an industrial process. Early attempts were made in the basement at the Royal Frederik’s University in Christiania. The need to have access for more power in May 1903, moved the trials to a warehouse at the Frognerkilen Fabrik. Here, an arc flame of a diameter of 55 cm and a load of 45 KW was ignited. To get access to even more power, a new pilot station was built right next to the power station Christiania Elektricitetsværks sekundærsatsjon, which meant receiving high-voltage power to the oven directly from the hammer power plant in Maridalen. At the Figure 1. Evenstad power station Vassmoen, in the vicinity of Arendal, the method was fully developed from 1904 onwards. The Kristian Birkeland Sam Eyde first full industrial scale for the Birkeland-Eyde process was Source: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkeland-Eyde-prosessen developed in the pilot plant at Vassmoen. Investment negotiations Eyde was the electrical engineer, and in a way the pragmatist Eyde negotiated meanwhile with the management of BASF and ‘locomotive’ of the whole project. He was the one in Germany. This was quite natural, as they had an overlap who had to assemble the whole process and plant around in business interests with BASF being on its way to a leading the plasma reactor core part. He had to ensure that the fertilizer company. In modern words, one would assign them hydrostatic energy found its way to the plasma reactor in as the ‘technology leader’. In that time, they were on their an efficient manner. Engineer Eyde had not only acquired way of inventing their Haber-Bosch process (1908-1912). Still, rights to develop waterfalls, he also ran a highly successful scaling up was difficult because of mechanical constraints of engineering firm. In 1903 Birkeland and Eyde signed an the reactor material under the high-pressure conditions applied agreement and conducted experiments in Christiania (now at high temperature. Thus, there must have been an interest in Oslo). Other engineers were needed for the chemical trials. alternative solutions of N-fixation at that time. Yet, despite some Eyde was also a great motivator and thus ideal team leader visits between BASF researchers and Birkeland/Eyde, finally Chimica Oggi - Chemistry Today - vol. 34(1) January/February 2016 79 this did not result in a contractual agreement. The plasma Alike today banks can function as investor if they realise a big technology was clearly a high-risk technology. There was likely margin in a risky development. Sights were set on the French some if the courageous Norwegians could really make their bank, Paribas (Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas). final achievement. Accordingly, it was concluded that the arc With the step in of Paribas, the discussion turned from a technical method was still too uncertain to warrant risking a substantial roundtable to a business plan presentation.
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