Ammonia synthesis performance data

In 2001 Hyprotech and Synetix announced an ammonia plant simulation that can be used for modeling, on-line monitoring and optimization of the plant. The simulation includes Synetix reactor models, customized thermodynamic data and information to simulate the performance of a range of catalysts. The reactor models in the simulation include Primary and Secondary Reformers, High Temperature Shift converter, Low Temperature Shift Converter, Methanator and Ammonia Synthesis Converter80. 

Another test of validity is to check the performance of the model against experimental rate data obtained far from equilibrium. The microkinetic model presented in Table 7.3.1 predicts within a factor of 5 the turnover frequency of ammonia synthesis on magnesia-supported iron particles at 678 K and an ammonia concentration equal to 20 percent of the equilibrium value. This level of agreement is reasonable considering that the catalyst did not contain promoters and that the site density may have been overestimated. The model in Table 7.3.1 also predicts within a factor of 5 the rate of ammonia synthesis over an Fe(lll) single crystal at 20 bar and 748 K at ammonia concentrations less than 1.5 percent of the equilibrium value. 

The final step toward a complete first-principles description of the Ru-catalyzed ammonia synthesis was performed by including the full complexity of interactions and reaction paths and comparing the resulting rates with experimental data from supported Ru particles, such as reproduced in Fig. 1.1 [44]. The only information... 

The first example of a dynamic flux analysis was a study performed in the 1960s [269]. In the yeast Candida utilis, the authors determined metabolic fluxes via the amino acid synthesis network by applying a pulse with 15N-labeled ammonia and chasing the label with unlabeled ammonia. Differential equations were then used to calculate the isotope abundance of intermediates in these pathways, with unknown rate values fitted to experimental data. In this way, the authors could show that only glutamic acid and glutamine-amide receive their nitrogen atoms directly from ammonia, to then pass it on to the other amino acids. 

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