Industry anhydrous ammonia

Production of ammonia (NH ) Anhydrous (dry) ammonia is the fifth most produced industrial compound. The Haber-Bosch process uses steam on hot coke, which is mostly used in South Africa. In the United States, it is mostly produced from partial combustion of natural gas (methane) or by combining several gases using steam. Other methods use coke-oven gas, refinery gas (mostly methane), or even solar energy. Ammonia is toxic if inhaled and has a high pH value when mixed with water (hydration) to form ammonium hydroxide (NH OH), which has many uses, including as a household cleaner. Ammonia forms many compounds, including ammonium nitrate in fertilizer, rocket fuel, and explosives. Ammonia is also explosive when mixed with mercury or silver or when mixed as part of nitrocellulose. 

The synthetic anhydrous ammonia Industry satisfies several of the criteria mentioned above. It was one of the first chemical products to be produced using modern techniques Its composition has remained constant over the years It has been produced with a variety of processes Input coefficients and prices are available In the open literature and parts of the production process require considerable attention to workplace safety and health and to protection of the environment. 

For use in the explosive industry, anhydrous ammonia is converted by oxidation, at high temp and pressure, in the presence of a suitable catalyst, to 60% nitric acid, called "dilute nitric before being concentrated to 98 - 99% strength acid called "strong nitric. " The "strong nitric" is used in the manuf of NG, NC, NS, DNT, TNT,... 

Industrial production of sodium nitrite is by absorption of nitrogen oxides (NO ) into aqueous sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide. NO gases originate from catalytic air oxidation of anhydrous ammonia, a practice common to nitric acid plants ... 

Ammonia is the precursor for many other chemicals such as nitric acid, hydrazine, acrylonitrile, and hexamethylenediamine. Ammonia, having three hydrogen atoms per molecule, may be viewed as an energy source. It has been proposed that anhydrous liquid ammonia may be used as a clean fuel for the automotive industry. Compared with hydrogen, anhydrous ammonia is more manageable. It is stored in iron or steel containers and could be transported commercially via pipeline, railroad tanker cars, and highway tanker trucks. The oxidation reaction could be represented as ... 

Ethanolamines became available commercially in the early 1930s they assumed steadily growing commercial importance as intermediates after 1945, because of the large-scale production of ethylene oxide. Since the mid-1970s, economical production of very pure, colourless ethanolamines has been possible. Ethanolamines are produced on an industrial scale exclusively by reaction of ethylene oxide (see I ARC, 1994) and excess ammonia. This reaction takes place slowly, but is accelerated by water. An anhydrous procedure uses a fixed-bed ion-exchange resin catalyst (Hammer et al., 1987). 

The demand for nitrogen in a chemically fixed form (as opposed to elemental nitrogen gas) drives a huge international industry that encompasses the production of seven key chemical nitrogen products ammonia, urea, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, nitrogen solutions, ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphates. Such nitrogen products had a total worldwide annual commercial value of about US 50 billion in 1996. The cornerstone of this industry is ammonia. Virtually all ammonia is produced in anhydrous form via the Haber process (as described in Chapter 2). Anhydrous ammonia is the basic raw material in a host of applications and in the manufacture of fertilizers, livestock feeds, commercial and military explosives, polymer intermediates, and miscellaneous chemicals35. 

Another important aspect of the ammonia business is seasonality. The major end use for anhydrous ammonia (excluding production of downstream nitrogen products) is as a direct application fertilizer. The application season, particularly in Canada and the northern United States, is limited and significant storage capability is needed. As a result, it is normal to expect a plant to produce a downstream nitrogen product (such as urea) that is 1) easier to store and handle and 2) does not have such a limited application season. Industrial markets are normally nonseasonal57. 

Chemical Industry Association. 1975. Code of Practice for Large-Scale Storage of Fully Refrigerated Anhydrous Ammonia in the United Kingdom. London Chemical Industry Association. 

Potassium azide (2-6% KN3) dissolved in anhydrous ammonia was effective in lowering the rate of nitrification in tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with agricultural experiment stations in the states of Louisiana and Washington. PPG Industries, Inc., is exploring this and other agricultural uses (e.g. as a herbicide in rice culture) for the azide. 

Ammonia is found in the environment as the result of natural and industrial processes. It is released into the environment by the breakdown of organic wastes, and it is a constituent of the soil, the atmosphere, and bodies of water. Ammonia is also a key intermediate in the nitrogen cycle and is a product of amino acid metabolism (WHO 1986). Anhydrous ammonia is used in the production of nitric acid, explosives, synthetic fibers, and fertilizers (Budavari 1989). It is used as a refrigerant as a corrosion inhibitor in the purification of water supplies in steel production as a catalyst for polymers as a preservative for latex and in the production of nitrocellulose, urea formaldehyde, sulfite cooking liquors, and nitroparaffins (ACGIH 1991 Lewis 1993). Ammonium hydroxide (10-35% ammonia) is a major constituent of many cleaning solutions. Ammonia... 

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