High-Pressure Synthesis and Later Developments

Abstract

The commercial development of high pressure synthesis has been largely ‘hydrogenation,’ whether of nitrogen to produce ammonia, or of carbon monoxide to produce methanol, or of various hydrocarbons to produce more valuable products. In this latter field, by high pressure synthesis, it is now possible for the first time to change or control the ratio of hydrogen to carbon atoms in any hydrocarbon, and even to change aliphatic compounds to naphthenic and aromatic bodies.