Adolph Frank

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Adolph Frank
obituary

Adolph Frank (born January 20, 1834 in Klötze , today in Saxony-Anhalt , † May 30, 1916 in Charlottenburg , today in Berlin ) was a German chemist . At the end of the 1850s, he recognized the importance of potash salt as a fertilizer and built the first potash factory in Staßfurt in 1861 . Frank is considered to be the founder of the potash and cellulose industry in Germany.

life and work

Adolph Frank was born in the town of Klötze in the Altmark . Like his grandfather, his father, the Jewish businessman Salomon Philipp Frank, ran a general store in Klötze. Adolph Frank attended secondary school in Strelitz , later the Jacobson School in Seesen am Harz and, because he was particularly interested in chemistry, apprenticed to a pharmacist in Osterburg .

After breaking off his commercial apprenticeship, he studied pharmacy, natural sciences and technology at the University of Berlin from 1855 to 1857 , where he passed the state examination to become a pharmacist with a grade of 1 in the same year . He earned the funds for his studies through night shifts in a pharmacy. From 1861 to 1862 he received his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Göttingen with a thesis on sugar production. Even before completing his dissertation, in 1858, as part of his work for the Staßfurt beet sugar factory Bennecke, Hecker & Co., he submitted his first patent for the “cleaning method for beet juices using clay soaps”, which was to be followed by others. The focus of his further work was then the use of potash salts as artificial fertilizers in agriculture.

After 1860 he discovered and opened up the potash salt storage facilities at Staßfurt and Leopoldshall , thereby establishing the German and at the same time world potash industry. As part of this work, he had the patent for the potash fertilizers based on potassium chloride granted in 1861 . Further inventions were a process for the industrial production of iodine-free bromine from waste salts.

His work in the field of artificial fertilization led to the introduction of Thomas flour (also: Thomas slag) for use as a fertilizer.

In the 1890s, he took up observations by Ludwig Mond , according to which atmospheric nitrogen was also "bound" during carbide production under the high temperatures. M. Margueritte and Sourdeval, Henri Moissan and Thomas Willson also worked in this field abroad . Together with his new colleagues Nikodem Caro and Albert Frank , he found out that calcium carbide can absorb nitrogen at high temperatures around 1100 ° C and forms calcium cyanamide (calcium cyanamide). In March 1895, Adolph Frank and Caro applied for the first patent for the Frank Caro process . Fritz Rothe only had the task of briefly looking after a new test facility in Hamburg-Billwerder.

Calcium cyanamide became the basis for agricultural nitrogen fertilizers. and laid the calcium cyanamide industry. The hydrolysis of calcium cyanamide made it possible to release ammonia. This process was only later replaced by the cheaper Haber-Bosch process .

Cyanide Society Berlin

Immediately after the first patent was granted, both chemists and other partners founded the Cyanidgesellschaft mbH , from which the Bavarian nitrogen works AG (BStW) , later SKW Trostberg AG in Trostberg , emerged.

Others

The brown color of the beer bottle , in order to protect the contents from the effects of light, is also due to him. He also researched with Carl von Linde on the production of hydrogen for airship travel .

Honors

In 1907 he was awarded the Liebig Memorial Medal by the Association of German Chemists . In Staßfurt a street and the high school are named after him. In his hometown Klötze , a square in the city center is named after him. On the occasion of the return of the 100th anniversary of his death, the city of Klötze organized a commemoration weekend with 18 descendants of the Frank family. A book about the life of the chemist and entrepreneur was presented at a ceremony on May 29, 2016 . On the initiative of the city of Klötze, a road supplement sign was installed on Frankstrasse in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which was renamed Heubnerweg in 1938 , which now reminds of Adolph Frank.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mond's method for the production of cyano compounds and ammonia. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 248, 1883, pp. 366-368. - Obituary for Adolph Frank, page 376.
  2. ↑ At first Frank and Caro believed in the formation of calcium cyanide. After the formation of stoichiometric amounts of hydrogen cyanide during hydrolysis could be ruled out, the neutral term calcium cyanamide was soon chosen .
  3. ↑ Patent DE 88363 , "Frank Caro Process", filed March 31, 1895. (Note: contrary to the patent description, the nitrogen is not bound as cyanide.). - Patent DE 108971 , filed June 16, 1898.
  4. ↑ F. Rothe: On the utilization of atmospheric nitrogen. In: Journal for Applied Chemistry. 16, 1903, p. 658, doi : 10.1002 / anie.19030162708 . - Dispute Fritz Rothe vs. Adolph Frank.
  5. ↑ Patent DE 152260 , applied for on May 1, 1901 for the "Cyanid-Gesellschaft mbH in Berlin".
  6. ↑ A. Frank: The utilization of the free nitrogen in the air for agriculture and industry. In: Journal for Applied Chemistry. 16, 1903, p. 536, doi : 10.1002 / anie.19030162303 .
personal data
SURNAME Frank, Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frank, Adolf (misspelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist; Founder of the German potash salt and cellulose industry
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Blocks
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1916
Place of death Berlin-Charlottenburg