The rise and fall of the salitre (sodium nitrate) industry

The nitrate fields in Chile are exceptional for their mineral content and u nknown origin and serve as an excellent example how a chemical technology c an arise to create a very large and almost exclusive market, to be sent the n almost into oblivion by competing technologies. The income from sodium ni trate export provided for many years almost 50% of the income of the Chilea n government and a large part of the world needs for fertilizers. Developme nt of the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia synthesis resulted in the crash o f the dream and a serious economic crisis for Chile.