Ammonia reactor conditions

Nitric acid is one of the three major acids of the modem chemical industiy and has been known as a corrosive solvent for metals since alchemical times in the thirteenth centuiy. " " It is now invariably made by the catalytic oxidation of ammonia under conditions which promote the formation of NO rather than the thermodynamically more favoured products N2 or N2O (p. 423). The NO is then further oxidized to NO2 and the gases absorbed in water to yield a concentrated aqueous solution of the acid. The vast scale of production requires the optimization of all the reaction conditions and present-day operations are based on the intricate interaction of fundamental thermodynamics, modem catalyst technology, advanced reactor design, and chemical engineering aspects of process control (see Panel). Production in the USA alone now exceeds 7 million tonnes annually, of which the greater part is used to produce nitrates for fertilizers, explosives and other purposes (see Panel). 

The catalysts can therefore be tuned to the particular conditions pertaining in the particular ammonia reactor, which accounts for the differences in composition between industrially utilized catalysts. 

Aneja, V.P., Dynamic Studies of Ammonia Uptake by selected Plant Species Under Flow Reactor conditions, Ph.D. Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., pp. 216,1976. 

The relative consumptions ( ) of the individual units are given in Table 3 as well. The primary reformer (REFl) produced about 1/3 (32.6U ) of the total consumption whereas the high-pressure ammonia reactor contributes only 1. 3 though the complete pressure drop of the recirculating gas cycle has assumed to be localized in this reactor. The gas conditioning (SEP1 compare Fig. 2) has a considerable influence with about 11 . 

A reactor contains an equimolar mixture of hydrogen, nitrogen, and ammonia under conditions that reaction (14.1) can take place. Determine the possible values of the extent of reaction and the composition (mole fractions) of the mixture when the moles of ammonia have doubled over the initial value. 

In many, perhaps most, chemical processes, a separation section is located after the reaction section, as shown in Figure 7.1. In this separation section, products are purified and unconverted reactants are recovered for recycle back to the reactor. In this manner, a process involving reactions with unfavorable chemical equilibrium constants, Kc, at reactor conditions can achieve high overall process conversions to desired products. Important industrial examples are the hydrogenation of nitrogen to ammonia. 

In analogy with a flxed bed reactor (W7f nhj), the kinetic data are represented by T/fNHa. where L stands for the length of the catalyst coating and Fnhj is the molar flow rate of ammonia. Standard conditions consisted of a mixture of 3 vol % NH3 and 20 vol% O2 at a total flow rate of 400ml/min. A hotspot temperature of 6 K was measured at 50% conversion of 3 mol% ammonia. 

In the case of an adiabatic ammonia reactor is not a well defined smooth function as it has a dis ontinCTty of blow out condition. But ven in the range where is well defined, approximations of M of the type given by 4a and 4b have strong limitations as they refer only to fixed designs. 

Consider the production of ammonia from the catalytic reaction of a stoichiometric feed of nitrogen and hydrogen as in Example 9.7. As we saw, when the reaction temperature is 500°C and the reactor pressure is 1 bar, the conversion is very low. We wish to change the reactor conditions to increase conversion. Would you pick T or P Which way would you change ... 

Hot spot formation witliin tlie reactor can result in catalyst breakdown or physical deterioration of tlie reactor vessel." If tlie endothermic cyanide reaction has ceased (e.g., because of poor catalyst performance), the reactor is likely to overheat. Iron is a decomposition catalyst for hydrogen cyanide and ammonia under the conditions present in the cyanide reactor, and e. posed iron surfaces in the reactor or reactor feed system can result in uncontrolled decomposition, which could in turn lead to an accidaital release by overheating and overpressure. 

Because diacetylene is unstable, a stable diacetylene derivative, 1-methoxybut-l-en-3-yne (65CB98), is often employed in the synthesis of pyrroles. The reaction with ammonia proceeds under conditions of heterogeneous catalysis (a mixture of reagent vapors is passed through a catalyst-containing reactor heated to 150°C), approaching a yield of 50-70% but with primary aromatic amines, the yield drops to 20%. 

The synthesis of 4-unsubstituted DHPs in a focused microwave reactor has been reported using alkyl acetoacetates and hexamethylenetetramine 19 as the source of both formaldehyde and ammonia, with additional ammonium acetate to maintain the stoichiometry [57], Irradiation for 100 s under solvent-free conditions gave, for example, 1,4-DHP 20 in 63% isolated yield (Scheme 5). 

As an indispensable source of fertilizer, the Haber process is one of the most important reactions in industrial chemistry. Nevertheless, even under optimal conditions the yield of the ammonia synthesis in industrial reactors is only about 13%. This Is because the Haber process does not go to completion the net rate of producing ammonia reaches zero when substantial amounts of N2 and H2 are still present. At balance, the concentrations no longer change even though some of each starting material is still present. This balance point represents dynamic chemical equilibrium. 

The chemical industry of the 20 century could not have developed to its present status on the basis of non-catalytic, stoichiometric reactions alone. Reactions can in general be controlled on the basis of temperature, concentration, pressure and contact time. Raising the temperature and pressure will enable stoichiometric reactions to proceed at a reasonable rate of production, but the reactors in which such conditions can be safely maintained become progressively more expensive and difficult to make. In addition, there are thermodynamic limitations to the conditions under which products can be formed, e.g. the conversion of N2 and H2 into ammonia is practically impossible above 600 °C. Nevertheless, higher temperatures are needed to break the very strong N=N bond in N2. Without catalysts, many reactions that are common in the chemical industry would not be possible, and many other processes would not be economical. 

In our calculation we assume that the gas mixture approaches equilibrium under conditions where the pressure is constant. This situation corresponds, for instance, to a volume of gas moving through a plug flow reactor with a negligible pressure drop. (Note that if the ammonia synthesis were carried out in a closed system, the pressure would decrease with increasing conversion.)... 

The equilibrium curve and the optimal operation line are again plotted in an ammonia concentration versus temperature plot for each of the two sets of conditions in Fig. 8.26, but now together with the optimal catalyst curves for a few selected nitrogen bonding energies. The right-hand panel also shows the operating line, and it is now possible to estimate which catalyst should be where in the reactor. 

GP 10] [R 18]The best HCN yield of 31% at a p-gauze platinum catalyst (70 ml h methane 70 ml h ammonia 500 ml h air 1 bar 963 °C) is much better than the performance of monoliths (Figure 3.49) having similar laminar flow conditions [2]. A coiled strip and a straight-channel monolith have yields of 4 and 16%, respectively. The micro-reactor performance is not much below the best yield gained in a monolith operated under turbulent-flow conditions (38%). 

A chemical reactor is an apparatus of any geometric configuration in which a chemical reaction takes place. Depending on the mode of operation, process conditions, and properties of the reaction mixture, reactors can differ from each other significantly. An apparatus for the continuous catalytic synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen, operated at 720 K and 300 bar is completely different from a batch fermenter for the manufacture of ethanol from starch operated at 300 K and 1 bar. The mode of operation, process conditions, and physicochemical properties of the reaction mixture will be decisive in the selection of the shape and size of the reactor. 

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