Anhydrous ammonia, industrial

The synthetic anhydrous ammonia Industry satisfies several of the criteria mentioned above. It was one of the first chemical products to be produced using modern techniques Its composition has remained constant over the years It has been produced with a variety of processes Input coefficients and prices are available In the open literature and parts of the production process require considerable attention to workplace safety and health and to protection of the environment. 

Industrial production of sodium nitrite is by absorption of nitrogen oxides (NO ) into aqueous sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide. NO gases originate from catalytic air oxidation of anhydrous ammonia, a practice common to nitric acid plants ... 

Ammonia is the precursor for many other chemicals such as nitric acid, hydrazine, acrylonitrile, and hexamethylenediamine. Ammonia, having three hydrogen atoms per molecule, may be viewed as an energy source. It has been proposed that anhydrous liquid ammonia may be used as a clean fuel for the automotive industry. Compared with hydrogen, anhydrous ammonia is more manageable. It is stored in iron or steel containers and could be transported commercially via pipeline, railroad tanker cars, and highway tanker trucks. The oxidation reaction could be represented as ... 

For use in the explosive industry, anhydrous ammonia is converted by oxidation, at high temp and pressure, in the presence of a suitable catalyst, to 60% nitric acid, called "dilute nitric before being concentrated to 98 - 99% strength acid called "strong nitric. " The "strong nitric" is used in the manuf of NG, NC, NS, DNT, TNT,... 

The demand for nitrogen in a chemically fixed form (as opposed to elemental nitrogen gas) drives a huge international industry that encompasses the production of seven key chemical nitrogen products ammonia, urea, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, nitrogen solutions, ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphates. Such nitrogen products had a total worldwide annual commercial value of about US 50 billion in 1996. The cornerstone of this industry is ammonia. Virtually all ammonia is produced in anhydrous form via the Haber process (as described in Chapter 2). Anhydrous ammonia is the basic raw material in a host of applications and in the manufacture of fertilizers, livestock feeds, commercial and military explosives, polymer intermediates, and miscellaneous chemicals35. 

Another important aspect of the ammonia business is seasonality. The major end use for anhydrous ammonia (excluding production of downstream nitrogen products) is as a direct application fertilizer. The application season, particularly in Canada and the northern United States, is limited and significant storage capability is needed. As a result, it is normal to expect a plant to produce a downstream nitrogen product (such as urea) that is 1) easier to store and handle and 2) does not have such a limited application season. Industrial markets are normally nonseasonal57. 

Chemical Industry Association. 1975. Code of Practice for Large-Scale Storage of Fully Refrigerated Anhydrous Ammonia in the United Kingdom. London Chemical Industry Association. 

Potassium azide (2-6% KN3) dissolved in anhydrous ammonia was effective in lowering the rate of nitrification in tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with agricultural experiment stations in the states of Louisiana and Washington. PPG Industries, Inc., is exploring this and other agricultural uses (e.g. as a herbicide in rice culture) for the azide. 

Ammonia is found in the environment as the result of natural and industrial processes. It is released into the environment by the breakdown of organic wastes, and it is a constituent of the soil, the atmosphere, and bodies of water. Ammonia is also a key intermediate in the nitrogen cycle and is a product of amino acid metabolism (WHO 1986). Anhydrous ammonia is used in the production of nitric acid, explosives, synthetic fibers, and fertilizers (Budavari 1989). It is used as a refrigerant as a corrosion inhibitor in the purification of water supplies in steel production as a catalyst for polymers as a preservative for latex and in the production of nitrocellulose, urea formaldehyde, sulfite cooking liquors, and nitroparaffins (ACGIH 1991 Lewis 1993). Ammonium hydroxide (10-35% ammonia) is a major constituent of many cleaning solutions. Ammonia... 

This product is known as hexamine in the plastics industry and urotropin in the pharmaceutical industry. The reaction is rapid and the yield is above 96%. In order to carry out the reaction, formaldehyde in aqueous solution reacts with anhydrous ammonia in a cooled reactor. The reaction product is purified by evaporation, centrifuging, and drying. The centrifuge wash liquors are virtually all recycled. 

Unit Trains. Coal in unit trains is already being carried to the chemical industry. In the 1970s other raw material unit train movements may well follow. We expect an increase in unit train movements of chemical products—such as the proposed unit train movement of anhydrous ammonia from the Gulf Coast to the com belt. These movements will take place from remote raw material sources to plants as well as from plants to distant concentrated markets. Trainloads of semifinished, in-process chemicals will probably move between a company s plants or to customer plants. 

Ammonia is the second largest synthetic commodity product of the chemical industry, with world production capacity exceeding 140 million metric tons. In 2000, the U.S. consumed in excess of 20 million metric tons of NH3. Anhydrous ammonia costs about 150 per short ton (fo b. U.S. Gulf Coast) or less than 6.25 per million BTU of H2... 

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