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Ammonia Conversion

Ammonia is produced industrially via the Haber-Bosch process. This involves reacting nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas at high pressures (200-1000 atm) and temperatures (450°C) in the presence of an iron catalyst. This allows ammonia production on an industrial scale, important as ammonia is used primarily in fertilizers and also in other industries. The key steps involve purifying natural gas, steam reforming it to produce hydrogen, removing impurities, and then synthesizing ammonia via the exothermic reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen under pressure over the iron catalyst. Major engineering challenges include controlling the reaction equilibrium, kinetics and design of the catalyst system.

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Kashan Aslam
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105 views24 pages

Ammonia Conversion

Ammonia is produced industrially via the Haber-Bosch process. This involves reacting nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas at high pressures (200-1000 atm) and temperatures (450°C) in the presence of an iron catalyst. This allows ammonia production on an industrial scale, important as ammonia is used primarily in fertilizers and also in other industries. The key steps involve purifying natural gas, steam reforming it to produce hydrogen, removing impurities, and then synthesizing ammonia via the exothermic reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen under pressure over the iron catalyst. Major engineering challenges include controlling the reaction equilibrium, kinetics and design of the catalyst system.

Uploaded by

Kashan Aslam
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AMMONIA

Prepared By: 13BCH022


13BCH025
13BCH036
Introduction
• Ammonia received its official name as "ammoniac" in 1787 from the
Latin name of “ammonium chloride - sal ammoniac”; because that
salt was obtained near the temple of Egyptian god Amon.

• ammonia was first isolated by Joseph Priestley in 1774 and was


termed by him "alkaline-air". Eleven years later in 1785, Claude
Louis Berthollet ascertained its composition.

• 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.

• It was first used on an industrial scale in Germany during World War


I. The ammonia was used to produce explosives to sustain war efforts.
Properties of Ammonia
• Molecular weight : 17 gm/mol

• Boiling point : -33.34 ˚C

• Freezing point : -77.7 ˚C

• Standard heat of formation: -46 222 KJ/Kmol

• Solubility : Soluble In chloroform, ether, ethanol

• Density : 0.769 Kg/𝑚3 At STP


Refrigerant

Medicine &
Industry
Cosmetics

Uses of
Solvent Preservative
Ammonia

Lab Transport
reagent of 𝐻2
Metal
treatment
Uses of Ammonia In Industries
Fertilizer Industry

Petroleum Industry

Mining Industry

Rubber Industry

Paper Industry

Leather Industry
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

• The synthesis gas for manufacture of Ammonia is produced by


steam reforming or partial oxidation of Hydrocarbon feed.

• The various processes used commercially in industries for


production of Ammonia are :

1. Imperial chemical Industries (ICI)

2. Haber–Bosch Process

3. Braun Purifier Process


1. Imperial chemical Industries (ICI)
• Hydrocarbon feed is subjected to steam reforming in two
stages to form oxides of Carbon, methane and hydrogen.

• In the secondary reformer air is mixed with the gases to get a


N2 : H2 ratio of 1:3.

• Carbon monoxide is removed by shift conversion. Carbon


dioxide is removed by absorption into or Potassium Carbonate
solution.

• Traces of CO and CO2 are removed by conversion into


methane. Synthesis gas is used to produce ammonia.
Advantages of ICI Process

• Intensive heat recovery

• Generation of steam which can be imported.

• Less dependency on electricity

• Capital cost is least.


2. Haber – Bosch Process

• The Haber–Bosch process, is the industrial implementation of


the reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. It is the main
industrial procedure to produce ammonia:

N2 + 3 H2 → 2 NH3 (ΔH = −92.4 kJ·mol−1)


A Flow Scheme of Haber Process
Process flow Diagram
Parameters
• Temperature: 450˚C, moderately high. Using a lower temperature would

increase yield at equilibrium, but the reactions would be too slow. The

temperature is a compromise between rate and position of equilibrium.

• Pressure: 200-1000 atm. Pressure is beneficial in terms of rate and

position of equilibrium, so a very high pressure is used. The pressure is not

even higher as the cost of maintaining it is more than the value of the extra

ammonia that would be made.

• Catalyst: Iron, As the rates are increased, the temperature used need not be

so high as that which would be required in the absence of a catalyst. By

allowing a lower temperature to be used, the position of equilibrium is more

favourable as the Haber process is exothermic in the forward direction.


Major Engineering Problems
• Reaction kinetics and equilibrium :
• As per Le Chatelier principle for exothermic reaction lower temp
favour the forward reaction and for decreasing moles the higher
pressure is favourable.

• From graph (1) & (2) the equilibrium yield of NH3 is increased by
increase in pressure and decrease in temperature.
• Catalyst :

• All catalyst based on FeO. Nowadays promoters like oxides of


Al, Zr, K are added to make the catalyst more porous and to
withstand the high temperature.
• Space velocity :

• It is the volume of gases at standard condition that passed over


the catalyst bed per unit time with increase in space velocity.

• The % NH3 will decrease most industries uses space velocity


of 10000-20000 per hour.
3. Braun Purifier Process

• In this process Synthetic ammonia (NH3) refers to ammonia


that has been synthesized from natural gas. Natural gas
molecules are reduced to carbon and hydrogen. The hydrogen
is then purified and reacted with nitrogen to produce ammonia.
Chemical Processes
Simple Block Diagram
• The first stage is purification where impurities, mainly sulphur
compounds, are removed from the gas stream.
• Steam reforming is performed in two stages. In the primary stage,
the endothermic reactions take place at pressures around 30 bar and
temperatures of 800°C or higher. This is followed by an exothermic
secondary reformer where air is added to the partially reformed gas
stream.
• The carbon monoxide in the gas leaving the secondary reformer is
converted to carbon dioxide in the shift reactors and then removed
by scrubbing from the gas stream. Any residual carbon oxides are
then converted back to methane by methanation before compression
of the hydrogen and nitrogen to ammonia synthesis pressure.
• The final reaction stage is ammonia synthesis where the hydrogen
and nitrogen combine to form ammonia. This reaction stage takes
place at high pressure (100-350 bar) and is highly exothermic.
Ammonia Industries in India

• Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd.

• Gujarat State Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd.

• Deepak Fertilizers & Petrochemicals Cooperative Ltd.

• Southern Petrochemical Industries Cooperative Ltd.

• Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd.


Reactor for Ammonia Synthesis
References
[1] https://news.slac.stanford.edu/image/haber-bosch-process

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process

[3]http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/haber.html

[4]http://www.sbioinformatics.com/design_thesis/Ammonia/Am
monia_Methods-2520of-2520Production.pdf

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