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100 _aSteininger, Benjamin
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245 _aAmmonia synthesis on the banks of the Mississippi:
_bA molecular-planetary technology
260 _bsage
_c2021
300 _aVol 8, Issue 3, 2021 : (262-279 p.).
520 _aThe paper discusses the CF-industries ammonia plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The plant is framed as an exemplary site from which the Anthropocene can be observed and understood. In doing so, a proposal for a “chemical cultural theory” is set out, to allow us to understand such molecular planetary technologies and interpret their (geo)historical significance. As one of the largest fertilizer plants in the world in terms of its output, and one of the largest chemical plants along the “Petrochemical Corridor,” a cluster of chemical industries situated between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Donaldsonville typifies the relations between the nitrogen and hydrocarbon industries. Catalysis is here used both as a chemical concept and as a metaphor central to the proposed chemical cultural theory. As key to the Haber-Bosch process and refinery technologies in general, investigating the role of catalysis allows us to connect the history of the Petrochemical Corridor to that of German industrialism. This relation reveals how, from the late 19th century through to the World Wars, an ambivalent industrial co-operation between the US and Germany not only transformed local and planetary environments, it also contributed to the Anthropocene condition.
650 _aammonia synthesis,
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650 _acatalysis,
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650 _achemical cultural theory,
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650 _achemical industry,
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650 _amolecular mobilization,
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650 _amolecular planetary technology,
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650 _apetrochemical corridor,
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650 _aWorld War I,
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650 _aWorld War II
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773 0 _010524
_915375
_dSage Pub. 2019 -
_tAnthropocene review/
_x2053-020X
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1177/20530196211029676
942 _2ddc
_cART
999 _c12932
_d12932