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Since the
shortage of shipping shut off the foreign supply we are using more of
our own pyrite and also our deposits of native sulfur along the Gulf
coast. But as a consequence of this sulfuric acid during the war went up
from $5 to $25 a ton and acidulated phosphates rose correspondingly.
Germany is short on natural phosphates as she is long on natural potash.
But she has made up for it by utilizing a by-product of her steelworks.
When phosphorus occurs in iron ore, even in minute amounts, it makes the
steel brittle. Much of the iron ores of Alsace-Lorraine were formerly
considered unworkable because of this impurity, but shortly after
Germany took these provinces from France in 1871 a method was discovered
by two British metallurgists, Thomas and Gilchrist, by which the
phosphorus is removed from the iron in the process of converting it into
steel. This consists in lining the crucible or converter with lime and
magnesia, which takes up the phosphorus from the melted iron. This slag
lining, now rich in phosphates, can be taken out and ground up for
fertilizer.


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