- German research
chemist who invented processes for converting coal into oil and wood
into sugar. He shared a Nobel prize 1931 with
Carl Bosch for his part
in inventing and developing high-pressure industrial methods.
Bergius was born near Breslau, Silesia (now in Poland), the son of
the owner of a chemical factory. He studied chemistry at the universities
of Breslau and Leipzig, and did research at Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule
with German chemist Fritz Haber, who introduced him to high-pressure
reactions. Bergius worked in industry 1914-45, then left Germany and
eventually settled in Argentina 1948, as a technical adviser to the
government.
In 1912 Bergius worked out a pilot scheme for using high pressure,
high temperature, and a catalyst to hydrogenate coal dust or heavy
oil to produce paraffins (alkanes) such as petrol and kerosene. Yielding
nearly 1 tonne of petrol from 4.5 tonnes of coal, the process became
important to Germany during World War II as an alternative source
of supply of petrol and aviation fuel. He also discovered a method
of producing sugar and alcohol from simple substances made by breaking
down the complex molecules in wood; he continued this work in Argentina,
and found a way of making fermentable sugars and thus cattle food
from wood.
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