The electric arc furnace - Norway's greatest invention

You are now standing outside Furnace House A, the first production hall for artificial fertilizer. In the early 1900s, Furnace House A housed 32 Birkeland-Eyde electric arc furnaces that received electricity from Hydro's own power station, Svelgfoss I. The electric arc furnace converted air into nitric oxide. This is the first step in the production of artificial fertilizer. The electric arc furnace, also known in English as an arclight furnace, is referred to as Norway's most important invention. Artificial fertilizer contributed to higher yields in agriculture, both in Norway and in many other countries. You can see one of the early furnaces on the terrace outside the furnace house. In Notodden, the technology was tested at an industrial scale and the first large furnace factory was built. The early industrial buildings provided space for two generations of technology for making nitrogen fertilizers and other chemical products. Artificial fertilizer was Norsk Hydro's main product. The story you may know best – heavy water – was a by-product of a later method of producing the necessary chemicals.