- Ammonia production
Because of its many uses,
ammonia is one of the most highly-produced inorganic chemicals. There are literally dozens of large-scale ammonia production plants worldwide. The worldwide production in 2004 was 109,000,000 metric tons. [ [http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/nitromcs05.pdf United States Geological Survey publication] ] China produced 28.4% of the worldwide production followed by India with 8.6%, Russia with 8.4%, and the United States with 8.2%. About 80% or more of the ammonia produced is used for fertilizing agricultural crops. Ammonia is also used for the production of plastics, fibers, explosives, and intermediates for dyes and pharmaceuticals.History
Before the start of
World War I , most ammonia was obtained by the drydistillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products; by the reduction ofnitrous acid andnitrite s withhydrogen ; and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides or by quicklime, the salt most generally used being the chloride (sal-ammoniac).The
Haber process , which is the production of ammonia by combininghydrogen andnitrogen , was first patented byFritz Haber in 1908. In 1910Carl Bosch , while working for the German chemical company BASF, successfully commercialized the process and secured further patents. It was first used on an industrial scale by the Germans during World War I. Since then, the process has often been referred to as the Haber-Bosch process.Modern ammonia-producing plants
A typical modern ammonia-producing plant first converts
natural gas (i.e.,methane ) or LPG (liquified petroleum gases such aspropane andbutane ) or petroleumnaphtha into gaseoushydrogen . The method for producing hydrogen fromhydrocarbon s is referred to as "Steam Reforming". [cite book | author=Twygg, Martyn V. | title=Catalyst Handbook | edition=2nd Edition | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1989 | id=ISBN 1-874545-36-7] The hydrogen is then combined with nitrogen to produceammonia .Starting with a natural gas feedstock, the processes used in producing the hydrogen are:
* The first step in the process is to remove
sulfur compounds from the feedstock because sulfur deactivates thecatalyst s used in subsequent steps. Sulfur removal requires catalytichydrogenation to convert sulfur compounds in the feedstocks to gaseoushydrogen sulfide :::H2 + RSH → RH + H2S(gas)
*The gaseous hydrogen sulfide is then absorbed and removed by passing it through beds of
zinc oxide where it is converted to solidzinc sulfide :::H2S + ZnO → ZnS + H2O
* Catalytic
steam reforming of the sulfur-free feedstock is then used to form hydrogen pluscarbon monoxide :::CH4 + H2O → CO + 3H2
* The next step then uses catalytic shift conversion to convert the carbon monoxide to
carbon dioxide and more hydrogen:::CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
* The carbon dioxide is then removed either by absorption in aqueous
ethanolamine solutions or by adsorption in pressure swing adsorbers (PSA) using proprietary solid adsorption media.* The final step in producing the hydrogen is to use catalytic methanation to remove any small residual amounts of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide from the hydrogen:
::CO + 3H2 → CH4 + H2O::CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 +2H2O
To produce the desired end-product ammonia, the hydrogen is then catalytically reacted with nitrogen (derived from process air) to form anhydrous liquid ammonia. This step is known as the ammonia synthesis loop (also referred to as the
Haber-Bosch process):::3H2 + N2 → 2NH3
The steam reforming, shift conversion, carbon dioxide removal and methanation steps each operate at absolute pressures of about 25 to 35 bar, and the ammonia synthesis loop operates at absolute pressures ranging from 60 to 180 bar depending upon which proprietary design is used. There are many engineering and construction companies that offer proprietary designs for ammonia synthesis plants. Haldor Topsoe of Denmark, Uhde GmbH of Germany, and Kellogg Brown & Root of the United States are among the most experienced companies in that field.
Sustainable ammonia production
Ammonia production depends on plentiful supplies of
natural gas , a finite resource, to provide the hydrogen. Due to ammonia's critical role inindustrial agriculture and other processes, sustainable production is desirable. This is possible by usingrenewable energy to generate hydrogen byelectrolysis of water. This would be straightforward in ahydrogen economy by diverting some hydrogen production from fuel to feedstock use. For example, in2002 , Iceland produced 2,000 tons of hydrogen gas by electrolysis, using excess electricity production from itshydroelectric plants, primarily for the production of ammonia for fertilizercite web
title = Iceland launches energy revolution
publisher = BBC News
date = 2001-12-24
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1727312.stm
accessdate = 2008-03-23] . In practice, natural gas will remain the major source of hydrogen for ammonia production as long as it is cheapest.ee also
*
Ammonia
*Amine gas treating References
External links
* [http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/fuels/hydrogen/currenttechnology.html Today's Hydrogen Production Industry]
* [http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/industry/industrial_LBNL-44314.pdf Energy Use and Energy Intensity of the U.S. Chemical Industry] , Report LBNL-44314,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Scroll down to page 39 of 40 PDF pages for a list of the ammonia plants in theUSA )
* [http://www.cheresources.com/ammonia.shtml Ammonia: The Next Step] includes a detailedprocess flow diagram .
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