Chemical production in the year 2000
Krakow is home to a thriving chemical industry. This is one of the factors in the city's importance to
the entire region. The different chemicals that are produced in the region vary in scale and quality.
They are nevertheless the only source of chemicals for dozens if not hundreds of kilometers.
Within Krakow (or, more precisely, in the outskirts of Krakow), several small- and moderate-scale
operations have sprung up. These began with an eclectic mix of surviving university professors,
engineering and chemistry students, chemical engineers, and plant engineers. Such is the importance
of these industries that internal training schools have been set up, training new workers and specialists
as best they can (usually on the job).
An example of a range of chemical plant operations:
• Sulphur is imported from the Tarnobrzeg region. This is turned into sulphuric acid with the
lead chamber process.
• The Wieliczka Salt Mine is located in metropolitan Kraków. Salt from this mine is used to
produce brine.
• The chloralkali process is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride solution
(brine). Depending on the electrolysis arrangement used, hydrogen, sodium hydroxide,
hydrocholric acid and chlorine can be produced.
• Chlorine can be used to treat water, or as a chemical weapon.
• Sodium hyrdoxide is used with animal fats to make soap, producing glycerol as a by-product.
• Glycerol is used to produce nitroglycerin, or glycerol-trinitrate (GTN), which is an essential
ingredient of smokeless gunpowder and various explosives such as dynamite, gelignite and
propellants like cordite.
• Hydrogen is one of the precursors used to make ammonia with atmospheric nitrogen through
the Haber-Bosch process
• Chlorine can be used to purify water. It can also be combined with water to produce acids that
can be used to treat plant material for cellulosic ethanol production.
• Methane can be produced from waste pits.
• Less significant methane-derived chemicals include acetylene, prepared by passing methane
through an electric arc, and the chloromethanes (chloromethane, dichloromethane, chloroform,
and carbon tetrachloride), produced by reacting methane with chlorine gas.
• The Haber-Bosch process to produce ammonia from the nitrogen in the air was developed by
Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in 1909 and patented in 1910. The process is technically very
challenging (high pressure and temperature). Haber's original tabletop device produced around
one cup of ammonia every two hours.
• Production of nitric acid is via the Ostwald process. Anhydrous ammonia is oxidized to nitric
oxide, which is then reacted with oxygen in air to form nitrogen dioxide. This is subsequently
absorbed in water to form nitric acid and nitric oxide.
• Potassium nitrate can be produced from niter-beds, but this process takes a long time (~1
year). It can also be sourced from cave deposits of bat guano. It can be industrially produced
using ammonia and nitric acid (these can also be used to produce ammonium nitrate)
• The Solvay process is a method to convert sodium chloride to sodium carbonate using
ammonia.
• Sodium nitrate can be produced synthetically from methane and nitric acid and salts. Sodium
nitrate is also synthesized industrially by neutralizing nitric acid with soda ash (sodium
carbonate).
• Black powder, varieties of smokeless powder and other explosives can be made from some of
the components above. These end up in Krakow's arms and munitions industries.
Energy inputs into these chemical processes are large.
• Coal can produce steam to produce heating and pressure.
• Gasifiers can run internal combustion engines for electrical generators and pumps.
Other necessary items include:
• High-pressure and corrosion-resistant piping
• Reaction chambers
• Catalysts of various types
• Storage vessels
• Graphite electrodes (for the chloralkali process – graphite powder is also used in steelmaking
and for lubricating smokeless powders)
Because of the complications of size and the limits of energy and other special items, the output of
these plants are not massive in scale – most produce of the order tens of tons of chemicals a year.
Breakdowns and accidents are commonplace.
Encountering the Krakow chemical industry
Characters have a range of ways of interacting with the chemical industries:
• They may be guards for shipments of materials from far (e.g., sulphur from Tarnobrzeg) or near
(taking a shipment of smokeless powder to the Wojo Arms Factory).
• They may be tasked with discovery or recovery of important personnel (willing or unwilling).
• They may be tasked with the discovery or recovery of rare items (machinery salvage from
ruined plants, graphite rods from old storage or steelmaking plants, catalysts, etc.).
• Their actions, or actions of those they meet, may affect one or more of the industries in a
positive or negative way, leading to the change in value of munitions, etc.
• They maybe affected by an accident in the area.
• If sufficiently skilled, they may be propositioned or otherwise 'invited' to join an operation in a
range of roles.
• They may be asked to test new product (e.g., new smokeless powder or explosive formulations,
chlorine gas release systems) in combat conditions.
• They may be conned into buying product which is substandard or phony.
