The bond between industrial chemistry and agriculture began with the bones of dead animals. Bones are composite materials consisting of a continuous organic phase, mainly collagen, interspersed with a discrete clusters of inorganic material, mainly carbonated hydroxyapatite, a form of calcium phosphate. In nature, phosphate is cycled between flora and fauna: plants need phosphate to grow, to make DNA and RNA and the smaller molecules that store and provide energy; the bones of dead animals provide the phosphate plants need to thrive. Plant phosphate is returned to animals that consume plants. Plants are nurtured as farmers spread ground bone on growing fields. Grinding bone improves the availability of bone phosphate to plants, but sulfuric acid does a better job of it. Animal bones are phosphate-rich, but phosphate rock is even richer. Just as sulfuric acid can free phosphate from crushed bones, it can free the phosphate in phosphate rock. Phosphate freed from its bound state by sulfuric acid came to be called “superphosphate.” As demand for superphosphate fertilizer grew, demand for sulfuric acid grew. A reliable supply of sulfuric acid, in turn, made petroleum refining possible. This talk concerns superphosphate and the development of industrial chemistry in New York harbor in the middle years of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.

Superphosphate and the development of industrial chemistry at Newtown Creek in 19<sup>th</sup> century New York

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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Superphosphate and the development of industrial chemistry at Newtown Creek in 19th century New York

Superphosphate and the development of industrial chemistry at Newtown Creek in 19^th century New York