Synthetic ammonia production

Whereas near-term appHcation of coal gasification is expected to be in the production of electricity through combined cycle power generation systems, longer term appHcations show considerable potential for producing chemicals from coal using syngas chemistry (45). Products could include ammonia, methanol, synthetic natural gas, and conventional transportation fuels. 

The capture of C02 from process streams has been performed already for some decades in various industries. Examples of the capture of C02 from industrial applications are the production of hydrogen-containing synthesis gas for the production of ammonia or synthetic fuels or the purification of natural gas (from contaminated gas fields). Since in these processes, C02 is usually considered an undesired by-product, it is then released into the atmosphere. 

I. Ammonia, Anhydrous, Synthetic. Commercial anhydrous ammonia contains as principal impurities moisture, traces of oil and some rust, dirt, etc. The product intended for use at the US Ordnance plants for the manuf of nitric acid, Amm nitrate, Amm picrate and Na azide must comply with the following requirements of the US Specs(Ref 15) a)Mois-ture — max 0.5% by wt b)Oil — max 5 ppm... 

Before C02 gas can be sequestered from power plants and other point sources, it must be captured as a relatively pure gas. On a mass basis, C02 is the 19th largest commodity chemical in the United States [12], and C02 is routinely separated and captured as a by-product from industrial processes such as synthetic ammonia production, H2 production, and limestone calcination. 

Since no economical nitrogen fixation process that starts with nitrogen oxides has been discovered, ammonia has developed into the most important building block for synthetic nitrogen products worldwide. Prior to World War II, ammonia production capacity remained relatively stable. But during the war the need for explosives caused an increase in the production of ammonia for nitric acid manufacture. Then, after the war, the ammonia plants were used to manufacture fertilizers. As a result, there was a rapid increase in fertilizer consumption. The advantages of fertilizers were emphasized, and production capacity increased by leaps and bounds. 

Ammonia is an important primary inorganic material. 85% of the worldwide production is utilized in the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers. Ammonia production therefore represents an indicator of the size of the fertilizer industry in a particular country. 

The ring contraction of chloropyrazines to 2-cyanoimidazoles when treated with potassium amide in liquid ammonia has synthetic importance. LabeUng experiments have proved the origins of the nitrogen atoms in the products, and complex mechanisms have been proposed. It is... 

Chemical Industries uses the products from the Synthetic Fuels division to make ammonia products and nitric acid for explosives and fertilisers acrylonitrile and olefins for acrylic fibres and polyolefins alcohols, ketones and other solvents tars, paraffins, organic acids, phenols and cresols chemicals for the mining and metallurgical industries ... 

It is not intended to discuss the specific problems of the synthetic ammonia production but to localize those areas of an industrial chemical process which cause consumptions. The analysis comprises the synthesis gas plant using methane in a reforming process and the ammonia production. The use of methane is an arbitrary choice. The analysis of the coupled processes is necessary to give a realistic impression and to allow a qualified judging of the units and systems. 

Rawlings, G. D. and Reznik, R. B., Source Assessment Synthetic Ammonia Production, EPA-600/2—77—107, NTIS PB276718/AS, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, 1977. 

At Mazingarbe synthesis gas leaving the stripping column at (4) was converted to ammonia in the synthetic ammonia plant A of Houilldres du Bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais. In Fig. 13.23 about 5 percent of the synthesis gas is ptrrged at (7) to remove inert impurities, mostly methane and argon, present in feed. About 65 percent of the anunonia synthesized in A is withdrawn as stripped ammonia product at (6) and the remainder is returned (8) to the exchange colunm as liquid reflux. 

Although sulphate of ammonia is very wididv produced at this time and it is felt in some qua rters that the market is supersaturated, it is believed that because the sulphate is so well known to the fertilizer trade, it will be given serious consideration as a consumer of further increases in synthetic ammonia production. 

Acquiring a suitable moderator looked more difficult. The German scientists favored heavy water, but Germany had no extraction plant of its own. Harteck calculated at the beginning of the year that a coal-fired installation would require 100,000 tons of coal for each ton of heavy water produced, an impossibility in wartime. The only source of heavy water in quantity in the world was an electrochemical plant built into a sheer 1,500-foot granite bluff beside a powerful waterfall at Vemork, near Rjukan, ninety miles west of Oslo in southern Norway. Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvaelstofaktieselskab produced the rare liquid as a byproduct of hydrogen electrolysis for synthetic ammonia production. 

Though the KRA might have been ready to accept these demands in the interests of conducting the war, Helfferich thwarted such ventures. He made it clear to the deputy war minister in a personal conversation that he would fund neither a simple loan nor a subsidy, but rather, as Haber relayed immediately back to Ludwigshafen, wanted to give "the financial cooperation of the Reich the character of an investment" as with the Reichsstickstoffwerke. Moreover, he would want to discuss "the relationship of synthetic ammonia production to cyanamide from technical and economic points of view"—a circumspect way of saying he wanted to impose quotas on the production and sale of both products. ... 

It can be seen from Table 9.13 that the designed energy consumption of synthetic ammonia production is changed with the difference in the raw materials, gasification pressure and plant scale. 

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