Ammonia oceans

Methane, ammonia and water are found in increasing concentrations in the deeper atmosphere (Fig. 3.18). There is a mantle (see Fig. 3.17) which is liquid and with temperatures up to 2500 K consisting of a mixture of ammonia, water and methane. This zone therefore is a water-ammonia ocean and at a depth of 7000 km... 

Synthetic Processes. Traditional Solvay plants produce large volumes of aqueous, chloride-containing waste which must be discharged. This fact, in addition to a noncompetitive cost position, is largely responsible for the demise of U.S. synthetic plants. In countries other than the United States, waste is sent to the ocean, rivers, or deep underground wells. The AC and NA coproduct processes produce less aqueous waste than the traditional Solvay and NA mono processes. Related environmental concerns are added whenever a plant complex includes lime quarries and ammonia-producing equipment. 

Pipeline systems for transporting anhydrous ammonia that are urea and ammonium nitrate (UAN) and LNG compatible, exist in Europe, Mexico, and the Soviet Union. Export-oriented ammonia producing countries utilize huge ocean-going tankers that contain up to 50,000 t for distribution of ammonia. Co-shipment in refrigerated LNG tankers is usuaky done. 

One form of solar heat does offer interesting possibilities and is refeiTcd to as OTEC (Ocean-Thermal Energy Conversion). The OTEC power plant principle uses the solar heat of ocean surface water to vaporize ammonia as a working fluid in a Rankine cycle. After the fluid is expanded in the turbine, it is condensed by the 22°C colder... 

The most important type of mixed solution is a buffer, a solution in which the pH resists change when small amounts of strong acids or bases are added. Buffers are used to calibrate pH meters, to culture bacteria, and to control the pH of solutions in which chemical reactions are taking place. They are also administered intravenously to hospital patients. Human blood plasma is buffered to pH = 7.4 the ocean is buffered to about pH = 8.4 by a complex buffering process that depends on the presence of hydrogen carbonates and silicates. A buffer consists of an aqueous solution of a weak acid and its conjugate base supplied as a salt, or a weak base and its conjugate acid supplied as a salt. Examples are a solution of acetic acid and sodium acetate and a solution of ammonia and ammonium chloride. 

According to Summers and Chang from NASA s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field (1993), the oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ provided a possibility for the reduction of nitrites and nitrates to ammonia. This reaction would have been of great importance, as NH3 is required in many syntheses of biogenesis precursors. The authors assume that nitrogen was converted to NO in a non-reducing atmosphere, and thence to nitrous and nitric acids. These substances entered the primeval oceans in the form of acid rain , and here underwent reduction to NH3 with the help of Fe2+, thus raising the pH of the oceans to 7.3. Temperatures above 298 K favoured this reaction, which can be written as ... 

Mertens etal. [11] and Stevens [12] designed semiautomated versions of the micro Kjeldahl which avoided the distillation step altogether. In their versions, after the digestion step the digestion solution was diluted and the ammonia determined with an ammonia probe. The limitation on the sensitivity, then, is the sensitivity of the ammonia probe. This limits the method to the more productive oceanic waters. 

Because of its high heat capacity, ammonia is used as the working fluid in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) units. See http //www.nrel.gov/otec/for more information. 

Incident solar energy is absorbed by the surface water of the oceans. Ocean surface temperatures in excess of 26°C occur near the equator. Pure water has a maximum density at a temperature of 4°C. The chilled water tends to settle to the depths of the ocean. The combination of the warmed ocean surface water and cold deep ocean water provides the thermodynamic condition needed to operate a heat engine called ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). A typical closed-cycle OTEC Rankine cycle using a working fluid such as ammonia or a freon is suggested. 

There are two principal approaches to build OTEC power plants. The first approach called the open OTEC cycle involves a flash boiler to obtain steam directly from the warm surface ocean water. The open OTEC cycle requires a very large turbine. The second approach is called the closed OTEC cycle, which involves heat exchangers and a secondary thermodynamic working fluid such as ammonia or freon to reduce the size of the plant. 

Other odor fields possibly available to birds are ammonia from pastures and, over the ocean, dimethyl sulfide released by herbivorous action of plankton on marine plants (Nevitt etal., 1995). 

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC). Utilization of ocean temperature differentials between solar-heated surface water and cold deep water as a source of electric power. In tropical areas such differences amount to 35-40°F. A pilot installation now operating near Hawaii utilizes a closed ammonia cycle as a working fluid, highly efficient titanium heat exchangers, and a polyethylene pipe 2000 feet long and 22 inches inside diameter to handle the huge volume of cold water required. Alternate uses for such a system, such as electrolysis of water,... 

More Metals. The apparent simplicity of the problem is misleading because although the concentration of transition metal ions is small, the ocean assuredly contains trace quantities of all naturally occurring metals. We now recognize two results of coordination the properties of the metal are altered, and, equally important, the properties of the ligand are altered (coordinated ammonia is less basic, cyanide ion is less toxic) (5). Most of the catalytic activity of coordination entities recently summarized involved coordination entities of transition metal ions examples involving magnesium ion constitute the main exceptions (24). 

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