The document summarizes the manufacturing of ammonia. It describes Haber's process which uses nitrogen from air and hydrogen from natural gas to produce ammonia through a catalytic reaction. Key conditions for the reaction include temperatures of 400-450°C, pressures of around 200 atmospheres, and an iron catalyst. The modern process involves desulphurization of hydrocarbons, steam reforming to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, shift conversion to increase hydrogen, and purification before the synthesis reaction and separation of ammonia. The main uses of ammonia include production of fertilizers, nitric acid, explosives, fibers, refrigeration and pharmaceuticals.

2. Manufacturing of
ammonia

3. Group Members
• IBRAHIM KHALIL
• JAWERIA
• ASAD ALI

4. CONTENT
• INTRODUCTION
• ROW MATERIALS
• HABER’S PROCESS
• FACTORS EFFECTING ON HABER PROCESS
• MODREN METHOD TO MANUFACTURE OF
AMMONIA
• DESULPHURIZATION
• FORMATION OF STREAM HYDROGEN
• USESS OF AMMONIA

5. Introduction
• Ammonia is one of the highly produced inorganic
chemical in the world
• Synthetic ammonia is produced from the reaction
between nitrogen and hydrogen.
• There are two methods for manufacturing of
ammonia.
• Haber method
• Modern method

6. Raw materials
• The raw material use for manufacture of
ammonia are air water and hydrocarbons.
• Coal can also be used in place of hydrocarbons

7. Haber process
• Haber process for manufacture of ammonia
from nitrogen and hydrogen this process also
explain the conditions used in the process such
as temperature pressure catalyst.
• Haber discovered this high pressure synthesis of
ammonia in 1913.
• This energy intensive process has undergone
considerable modification.

8. Synthesis of ammonia from Haber process
• This process combines nitrogen from the air
with hydrogen derived mainly from natural gas
in to ammonia. The reaction is reversible and
production of ammonia is exothermic
• N + 3H 2NH3
• The mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen going in
to reacter is in the ratio of 1 volumes of
nitrogen to 3 volume of hydrogen.

9. A flow scheme for the Haber process

10. Some conditions
Catalyst:
• The catalyst is slightly more complicated than pure iron
it has potassium hydroxide added to it as a promoter that
Increase its efficiency
Pressure:
Pressure varies from one manufacturing plant to
another. But is always high .
Recycling:
At each pass of gasses through the reactor, only about
15% of the nitrogen and hydrogen convert to ammonia.

11. Temperature Equilibrium considerations
• The forward reaction in order to get as much
ammonia Possible in the equilibrium mixture you
need as low a temperature as possible.
• N + 3H 2 NH
• The production of ammonia is exothermic .
• According to le Chatelier’s principle , if you lower
the temperature . The system will respond by
moving the position of equilibrium to counteract
this –in other words by producing more heat.

12. Rate Considerations
• Lower the temperature the slower the reaction
becomes. A manufacturer is trying to produce more
ammonia as possible per day. It make no sense to try to
achieve an equilibrium mixture which contains a very
high proportion of ammonia if it takes several years to
reach that equilibrium.
• You need gases to reach equilibrium with in the very
short time that they will be in contact with the catalyst
in the reactor.
• 400 – 450 is a compromise temperature producing a
reasonably high proportion of ammonia in the mixture
even if it is only 15% ,but in a very short time.

13. Pressure Equilibrium Considerations
• In order to get as much ammonia as possible in
the equilibrium mixture ,you need as high a
pressure possible
• N2 + 3H2 2NH3
• According to le Chatelier”s principle, if you
increase the pressure of system that will
respond by favoring the reaction which
produces fewer molecules. That will cause the
pressure to fall again.

14. Rate Considerations
• Increasing the pressure bring the molecules closer
together. In this particular instance, it will increase
their chances of hitting and sticking to the surface
of catalyst where they can react. Higher the
pressure the better in terms of the rate of a gas
reaction.
• 200 atm pressure is a compromise pressure if the
pressure use is too high , the cost of generating it
exceeds the price you can get extra ammonia
produced.

15. Catalyst Equilibrium Considerations
• The catalyst has no effect whatsoever on the
position of the equilibrium . Adding a catalyst
does not produce any greater percentage of
ammonia in the equilibrium mixture . Its only
function is to speed up the reaction.

16. Rate Considerations
• In the absence of catalyst the reaction is so
slow.
• The catalyst ensures that the reaction is fast
enough for a dynamic equilibrium to be set up
with in the very short time that the gases are
actually in the reactor.

17. Separating the ammonia
• When the gases leave the reactor they are hot
at a very high pressure . Ammonia is easily
liquefied under pressure as long as it is not too
hot, and so the temperature of the mixture is
lowered enough for the ammonia to turn to a
liquid. The nitrogen and hydrogen remain as
gases even under these high pressure , and can
be recycled

18. Modern Method of Manufacturing of Ammonia
• The manufacturing process consist of six stages
namely: manufacture of reactant gases,
purification, compression, catalytic reaction,
recovery of ammonia formed and recirculation
and ammonia removal
• Hydrogen is obtained by conversion of
hydrocarbons such as methane , propane ,
butane in to gaseous hydrogen.

20. Desulphurization
• Hydrocarbon feedstock contain sulphur in the form
of H2S,COS,CS2. The catalyst used in the reforming
reaction is deactivated by sulphur. The catalytic
hydrogenation of the Sulphur compounds as shown
in the following equation:
• H2 + RSH RH + H2S
• The gaseous hydrogen sulphide is than removed by
passing it through a bed of zinc oxide where it is
converted to solid zinc sulphide:
• H2S + ZnO ZnS + H2O

21. Primary (steam) Reforming
• Reforming is the process of converting natural gas in to
hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Steam and
natural gas are combined at a three-to-one ratio. This
mixture is preheated and passed through catalyst – filled
tubes in the primary reformer.
• Catalytic steam reforming of the sulphur produces synthesis
gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide).using methane as an
example
• CH4 H2O Fe,15-20 atm,1000 – 1100 CO + 3H2
The reaction is endothermic. It is operated at 1000 -11oo . It
is not favored by high pressure , but to reduce volumetric
flow rate at high temperature, the steam reforming reaction
is carried out at high pressure of 15 to 20 atm.

22. Secondary Reformer
• From the primary reformer, the mixture flows
to the secondary reformer. Air is fed in to the
reformer to completely convert methane to CO
in the following endothermic reaction.
• 2CH4 + Air Ni 15-20 atm,1000 – 1100 2CO +
4H2 + N2
• The nitrogen and hydrogen coming out of the
secondary reformer are in the ratio of 3:1. this
mixture is known as the synthesis gas.

23. Shift Conversion
• The carbon monoxide is converted to carbon
dioxide with the assistance of catalyst beds at
different temperatures.
• CO+ H2O CO2 + H2
• This water gas shift reaction is favorable for
producing carbon dioxide which is use as a raw
material for urea production. At the same time
more hydrogen is produced.

24. Purification
• The carbon dioxide is removed either by scribbling with
water, aqueous monoethanolamine solution or hot
potassium carbonate solution.
• CO is an irreversible poison for the catalyst used in the
synthesis reaction, hence the need for its removal The
synthesis gas is passed over another catalyst bed in the
methanator, where remaining trace amounts of carbon
monoxide and dioxide are converted back to methane
using hydrogen.
• CO+ 3H2 CH4 + H2O
• CO2 + 4H2 CH4 + 2 H2O

25. Ammonia Converter
• After leaving the compressor, the gaseous mixture goes
through catalyst beds in the synthesis converter where
Ammonia is produced with a three-to-one hydrogen-to-
nitrogen stoichiometric ratio. However, not all the
hydrogen and nitrogen are converted to ammonia.
The unconverted hydrogen and nitrogen are separated
from the ammonia in the separater and re-cycled back to
the synthesis gas compressor and to the converter with
fresh feed .because the air contains argon which does not
Participate in the main reaction, purging it minimizes its
Build up in the recycle loop.

26. Ammonia Separation
• The removal of product ammonia is
accomplished via mechanical refrigeration or
absorption/distillation .the choice is made by
examining the fixed and operating costs.
Typically , refrigeration is more economical at
synthesis pressure of 100 atm or greater. At
lower pressures, absorption/distillation is
usually favoured.

27. Ammonia Storage
• Ammonia is stored in tanks as a refrigerated
liquid. some ammonia is used directly as a
fertilizer. Most ammonia is converted in to
downstream processes to urea (46% nitrogen)
or ammonium nitrate (34% nitrogen) for use as
fertilizer.

28. Ammonia Uses
• The main use of ammonia include the manufacture of fertilizers
(ammonium sulphate , diammonium phosphate , urea)
• Nitric acid
• Explosives
• Fibers , synthetic rubber, plastic such as nylon and other
polyamides.
• Refrigeration for making ice large scale refrigeration plants air-
conditioning units in buildings and plants.
• Pharmaceuticals(sulfonamide, vitamins etc)
• Pulp and paper
• Extractive metallurgy
• Cleaning solutions

31. Block diagram of an ammonia plant