Haber Process Essay, Research Paper

HABER PROCESS

You are to develop a new industrial plant in the area and a committee has decided that a new ammonia facility is to be built. This plant will use the Haber process in the ammonia production. The ammonia will eventually be used in the production of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. You are to discuss how the ammonia gas is to be produced and where your raw materials can be obtained.

Combining Hydrogen (g) and Nitrogen (g) would produce the ammonia. First the gases would go through the compressor to be compressed under about 1000 ATM of pressure. Then the compressed mixture would enter the catalyst chamber to produce the ammonia gas. This would yield about 40 ? 60 % yield ratio. Then for transport reasons the ammonia would be cooled into a liquid. The uncombined Nitrogen and Hydrogen in the cooling chamber would be recycled back into the compression chamber.

To find the natural resources I would replace the Hydrogen with water and use the excess product of oxygen to run though the pipes as a coolant or as a fuel for the compressor. This would be ideal around this area because of the Ohio River and the mass amount of free resources limiting supply costs. The Nitrogen could be extracted from the atmosphere. It could also be purchased in large bulk amounts from another company. If the Nitrogen were to be extracted the company would have to build another facility to run chemical processes on the atmosphere.