Introduction of Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis

Although a lot of technology progress has been achieved, the basic principles and process in modern ammonia plants are essentially the same as original ones developed by Haber and Bosch, a century ago. The major procedures can be outlined as follows  

During ammonia synthesis, the major reactions of production and purification of synthesis gas and the synthesis of ammonia, all are carried out over different catalysts. At least eight kinds of catalysts are used in the whole process, where natural gas or naphtha is used as feedstock and steam reforming is used to produce synthesis gas. These catalysts are Co-Mo hydrogenation catalyst, zinc oxide desulfurizer, primary- and secondary-steam reforming catalysts, high- and low-temperature shift catalysts, methanation catalyst and ammonia synthesis catalyst etc (Table 1.1). 

The eight kinds of catalysts may be roughly classified as protective catalysts and economic catalysts . Co-Mo hydrogenation catalyst and zinc oxide desulfurizer are the protective catalysts for the primary steam reforming catalysts. The high-temperature shift catalyst protects the low-temperature shift catalyst, and the methanation catalyst are the protective catalyst for ammonia synthesis catalyst. The catalysts for primary- and secondary-steam reforming, low-temperature shift and ammonia synthesis are responsible for the conversions of raw materials and the yield of products, and have direct effect on economic benefits of the whole plant, and are thus called as economic catalysts. The amount of catalysts used depends on the process and raw material. Table 1.2 represents the amount of the eight kinds of catalysts used in the different processes. The total volume of the catalysts is about 330 m in every plant, while there are only two kinds of catalysts with the volume of about 100-140 m when heavy oil or coal is used as raw material. Both shift 

Reactor Catalyst Catalytic reaction Operation conditions Life/a 

Raw Hydro- ZnO desul steam steam temperature temperature Ammonia 

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