Ammonia world

Figure 121. Geographical shift of ammonia world production capacity...

Since this is in part an historical sketch, mention is made here of the interesting nomenclature suggestions of E. C. Franklin (10) for his liquid-ammonia work. We are accustomed to a so-called water world as far as chemical nomenclature and almost everything else are concerned. Franklin built up a corresponding nomenclature based on a liquid-ammonia world. 

These disadvantages prompted Ernest Solvay (1838—1922) to develop and commercialize a procedure using ammonia to produce soda ash from salt and limestone. The first plant using the Solvay process was built in 1863 this process or variations are in use in much of the world in the 1990s. 

Fig. 6. World trends ia types of nitrogenous fertilizers consumed, where (—) represents anhydrous ammonia, ammonium phosphates, cogranulated...

THPOH—Ammonia—Tris Finish. By far the most effective finish for polyester—cotton textiles was a system based on the THPOH—NH treatment of the cotton component either foUowed or preceded by the appUcation of Tris finish to the polyester component. This combined treatment appeared to be effective on almost any polyester—cotton blend. A large amount of fabric treated in this way was sold throughout the United States and much of the rest of the world. Shortly after the introduction of Tris finishing, Tris was found to be a carcinogen. Most of the Tris treated production was in children s sleepwear, and this created a situation in which almost aU chemical fire-retardant-treated textiles were unfairly condemned as dangerous. Manufacturers mshed to replace chemically treated textiles with products produced from inherently flame-resistant fibers. Nowhere was the impact more severe than in the children s sleepwear market. New, safer materials have been introduced to replace Tris. Thus far none has been as completely effective. 

Steam Reformings of Natural Gas. This route accounts for at least 80% of the world s methanol capacity. A steam reformer is essentially a process furnace in which the endothermic heat of reaction is provided by firing across tubes filled with a nickel-based catalyst through which the reactants flow. Several mechanical variants are available (see Ammonia). 

The synthetic ammonia industry of the latter part of the twentieth century employs only the Haber-Bosch process (12—15), developed in Germany just before World War 1. Development of this process was aided by the concurrent development of a simple catalyzed process for the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate, needed at that time for the explosives industry. N2 and H2 are combined direcdy and equiUbrium is reached under appropriate operating conditions. The resultant gas stream contains ca 20% ammonia. 

Of the raw material hydrogen sources—natural gas, coal, and petroleum fractions—natural gas is the most often employed in ammonia plants in the 1990s and steam reforming is by far the most often used process. Partial oxidation processes are utilized where steam-reformable feeds are not available or in special situations where local conditions exist to provide favorable economics. Table 5 fists the contribution of the various feedstocks to world ammonia... 

Table 5. Feedstocks for World Ammonia Capacity, Annual %...

In the 1980s, however, the prices of oil and natural gas reversed their upward trends. Natural gas discoveries, both on-shore and off-shore, have considerably iacreased the world s energy supply and oil discoveries, many with associated gas, contributed more feedstock potential for ammonia production. 

Capacity, Production, and Consumption. Ammonia production has worldwide significance about 85% of the ammonia produced is used for nitrogen fertilizers. As the primary source of fertilizer nitrogen, it is key to solving world food production requkements. The remaining 15% goes into various industrial products such as fibers, animal feeds, explosives, etc. 

Table 12. World Ammonia Supply and Demand, 10 t of Elemental Nitrogen...

Ammonia in the world trading markets costs on the order of 35/t to ship between the United States and Western Europe. 

A ruthenium-based catalyst is used but low yields resulting from unexpected side reactions are stiU a problem. Refinement of alternative route ammonia manufacture and advances in genetic engineering, allowing a wider range of plant life to fix nitrogen in situ should provide assurance for long term world food needs. 

Sodium nitrate is used as a fertiliser and in a number of industrial processes. In the period from 1880—1910 it accounted for 60% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production. In the 1990s sodium nitrate accounts for 0.1% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production, and is used for some specific crops and soil conditions. This decline has resulted from an enormous growth in fertiliser manufacture and an increased use of less expensive nitrogen fertilisers (qv) produced from synthetic ammonia (qv), such as urea (qv), ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates, ammonium sulfate, and ammonia itself (see Ammonium compounds). The commercial production of synthetic ammonia began in 1921, soon after the end of World War I. The main industrial market for sodium nitrate was at first the manufacture of nitric acid (qv) and explosives (see Explosives and propellants). As of the mid-1990s sodium nitrate was used in the production of some explosives and in a number of industrial areas. 

A Vinyl-2-Pyrrolidinone. Commonly called vinylpyrrohdinone or VP, Al-vinyl-2-pyrrohdinone was developed in Germany at the beginning of World War 11. It is a clear, colorless Hquid that is miscible in all proportions with water and most organic solvents. It can polymerize slowly by itself but can be easily inhibited by small amounts of ammonia, sodium hydroxide (caustic pellets), or antioxidants such as N,lSf-di-j i -butyl- -phenylenediamine. It... 

These faetors are attributed to bateh and semi-bateh proeesses rather than eontinuous proeesses. However, the use of eontinuous proeesses on fine ehemieal manufaeturing sites is limited. It is often preferable to use the semi-bateh mode as opposed to bateh proeesses. The Appendix lists hazards of pertinent ehemieal reaetions for toxie and reaetive hazards ehemieals. Information eoneerning the safety of various ehemieals (e.g., ammonia and others) ean be readily obtained from the World Wide Web. Table 12-1 shows how to aeeess a material safety data sheet at the Vermont Safety Information (VIRI) site on the Internet. 

Ammonium sulfate fertilizer is made by reacting ammonia with sulfuric acid. In many parts of the world, calcium sulfate is in mineral form convertible to ammonium sulfate by combining it with ammonia and water - a virtually limitless source of sulfur. 

The noble gases make up about 1% of the earth s atmosphere in which their major component is At. Smaller concentrations are occluded in igneous rocks, but the atmosphere is the principal commercial source of Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe, which are obtained as by-products of the liquefaction and separation of air (p. 604). Some Ar is also obtained from synthetic ammonia plants in which it accumulates after entering as impurity in the N2 and H2 feeds. World production of... 

Chlorine trifluoride is a toxic, intensely reactive gas. It was used in World War II to make incendiary bombs. It reacts with ammonia and forms nitrogen, chlorine, and hydrogen fluoride gases. When two moles of chlorine trifluoride reacts, 1196 kj of heat is evolved. 

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