Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann

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Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann
Université Lille Nord de France

Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann (22 May 1803 – 27 January 1881) was a French chemist who patented the reaction for converting ammonia to nitric acid, which was later used in the Ostwald process.[1]

He was both a research scientist and a professor at

École centrale de Lille
(IDN).

As an entrepreneur starting in 1829, he established his own chemical company producing sulfuric acid. This company later merged into Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann group.

References

  1. ^ Note:
    • Frédéric Kuhlmann, "Pour la fabrication de l'acide nitrique et des nitrates," French patent no. 11,331 (filed: October 1838 ; issued: 22 December 1838). Supplemental patent issued: 7 June 1839. See: Description des machines et procédés consignés dans les brevets d'invention, … [Description of machines and methods recorded in the patents of invention, ... ] (Paris, France: Madame Veuve Bouchard-Huzard, 1854), 82 : 160.
    • Fréd. Kuhlmann (1838) "Note sur plusieurs réactions nouvelles déterminées par l'éponge de platine, et considérations sur les services que cette substance est appelée à rendre à la science" (Note on several new reactions caused by platinum sponge, and reflections on the services that this substance is called to render to science), Comptes rendus, 7 : 1107-1110. From page 1109: "1°. L'ammoniaque mêlée d'air en passant à une température de 300° environ sur de l'éponge de platine, est décomposée, et l'azote qu'il renferme est complétement transformé en acide nitrique, aux dépens de l'oxigène de l'air." (1. Ammonia mixed with air, upon passing at a temperature of about 300° over platinum sponge, is decomposed and the nitrogen that it contains is completely transformed into nitric acid, at the expense of the oxygen of the air.)
    • John Graham Smith (1988) "Frédéric Kuhlmann: Pioneer of platinum as an industrial catalyst," Platinum Metals Review, 32 (2) : 84-90.
  • Bibliothèque numérique de Lille-Frédéric Kuhlmann
  • Aftalion, Fred; Benfey, Otto Theodor (1991). A history of the international chemical industry. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 87. .
  • Obituary of Kuhlmann in La Nature 26 Feb 1881, scanned at google books