Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Ammonia production AI simulator
(@Ammonia production_simulator)
Hub AI
Ammonia production AI simulator
(@Ammonia production_simulator)
Ammonia production
Ammonia production takes place worldwide, mostly in large-scale manufacturing plants that produce 240 million metric tonnes of ammonia (2023) annually. Based on the annual production in 2023 the major part (~70%) of the production facilities are based in China (29%), India (9.5%), USA (9.5%), Russia (9.5%), Indonesia (4%), Iran (2,9%), Egypt (2,7%), and middle Saudi Arabia (2,7%). 80% or more of ammonia is used as fertilizer. Ammonia is also used for the production of plastics, fibres, explosives, nitric acid (via the Ostwald process), and intermediates for dyes and pharmaceuticals. The industry contributes 1% to 2% of global CO
2. Between 18–20 Mt of the gas is transported globally each year.
Before the start of World War I, most ammonia was obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products; by the reduction of nitrous acid and nitrites with hydrogen; and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides or by quicklime, the salt most generally used being the chloride (sal-ammoniac).
Adolph Frank and Nikodem Caro found that Nitrogen could be fixed by using the same calcium carbide produced to make acetylene to form calcium-cyanamide, which could then be divided with water to form ammonia. The method was developed between 1895 and 1899.
While not strictly speaking a method of producing ammonia, nitrogen can be fixed by passing it (with oxygen) through an electric spark.
Heating metals such as magnesium in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen produces nitride, which when combined with water produce metal hydroxide and ammonia.
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely divided iron metal as a catalyst:
![{\displaystyle {\mathrm {N} {\vphantom {A}}_{\smash[{t}]{2}}{}+{}3\,\mathrm {H} {\vphantom {A}}_{\smash[{t}]{2}}{}\mathrel {\longrightleftharpoons } {}2\,\mathrm {NH} {\vphantom {A}}_{\smash[{t}]{3}}}\qquad {\Delta H_{\mathrm {298~K} }^{\circ }=-92.28~{\text{kJ per mole of }}{\mathrm {N} {\vphantom {A}}_{\smash[{t}]{2}}}}}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/ba3d04f7488f3eb39ea50f0c05bccf43243ae4fe)
This reaction is exothermic but disfavored in terms of entropy because four equivalents of reactant gases are converted into two equivalents of product gas. As a result, sufficiently high pressures and temperatures are needed to drive the reaction forward.
Ammonia production
Ammonia production takes place worldwide, mostly in large-scale manufacturing plants that produce 240 million metric tonnes of ammonia (2023) annually. Based on the annual production in 2023 the major part (~70%) of the production facilities are based in China (29%), India (9.5%), USA (9.5%), Russia (9.5%), Indonesia (4%), Iran (2,9%), Egypt (2,7%), and middle Saudi Arabia (2,7%). 80% or more of ammonia is used as fertilizer. Ammonia is also used for the production of plastics, fibres, explosives, nitric acid (via the Ostwald process), and intermediates for dyes and pharmaceuticals. The industry contributes 1% to 2% of global CO
2. Between 18–20 Mt of the gas is transported globally each year.
Before the start of World War I, most ammonia was obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products; by the reduction of nitrous acid and nitrites with hydrogen; and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides or by quicklime, the salt most generally used being the chloride (sal-ammoniac).
Adolph Frank and Nikodem Caro found that Nitrogen could be fixed by using the same calcium carbide produced to make acetylene to form calcium-cyanamide, which could then be divided with water to form ammonia. The method was developed between 1895 and 1899.
While not strictly speaking a method of producing ammonia, nitrogen can be fixed by passing it (with oxygen) through an electric spark.
Heating metals such as magnesium in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen produces nitride, which when combined with water produce metal hydroxide and ammonia.
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely divided iron metal as a catalyst:
This reaction is exothermic but disfavored in terms of entropy because four equivalents of reactant gases are converted into two equivalents of product gas. As a result, sufficiently high pressures and temperatures are needed to drive the reaction forward.