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 1547.    ---------------.  [INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY.]  Pressure-Synthesis Operations of the DuPont Ammonia Corp.  Vol. 22, 1930, pp. 433-437.

       Outstanding characteristics in the pressure-synthesis industry are exemplified by a survey of the synthetic NH₃ plant at Belle, W.Va.  Because of the extremely high capital investment necessary, a plant of 300 ton-per-day capacity is probably the minimum economic size that can be constructed if costs are low enough to make a satisfactory rate of return in this field.  Furthermore, the size of such operating units as compressors and converters is increasing to such a degree that this factor of unit size controls very largely the desirable overall plant capacity.  Also, the enormous research and development expense must be distributed over a fairly large output, if reasonably low expense is to be shown per unit of output.  Assuming that the 300 ton-per-day plant is the smallest that should be projected, then the total capital requirement, at the commonly accepted figure of $250-per-yr.-per-ton of NH₃, would be about $25,000,000.