Production and Uses of Ammonia

For detailed information on the chemical properties of ammonia, see Chapter 4. Details on the production and use of ammonia are in Chapter 5, and more information on the environmental fate of ammonia and sources of human exposure is in Chapter 6. 

Table 10.11 lists the raw materials for hydrogen production in ammonia synthesis, joint production process and use of ammonia. As an energy industry, it appears that the ammonia synthesis industry has following characteristics. 

Table 10.11 Raw materials used for hydrogen production, joint production process and use of ammonia...

The hrst step of the integrated process, the ammoximation of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanone oxime, is based on a reaction, catalyzed by TS-1, between cyclohexanone, ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. It completely eliminates, on the one hand, the problems linked with the production and use of hydroxylamine and, on the other, the co-production of sulfates. 

Markets. Industrial use of ammonia varies according to region. Eor example, industrial usage represents 20% of the ammonia production in the United States and Western Europe, 10% in the USSR, 1—10% in Asia, and 5% in Latin America and North Africa (79). Fertiliser ammonia consumed domestically in most countries is converted to straight or compound fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, diammonium phosphate, and various grades of mixed fertilisers. However, almost 29% of ammonia nitrogen in the United States is consumed as direct appHcation material. The use of nitrogen solution such as urea and ammonium nitrate (UAN) has also become popular in the United States and the USSR. 

As CFG refrigerants are phased out of production, their replacements in the cold storage appHcations will be HFC candidates such as R-134a, R-404A, and R-507. The use of ammonia, which is considered an environmentally benign refrigerant, will continue to play an ever-increasing role. 

The cleavage products of several sulfonates are utilized on an industrial scale (Fig. 3). The fusion of aromatic sulfonates with sodium hydroxide [1310-73-2J and other caustic alkalies produces phenohc salts (see Alkylphenols Phenol). Chlorinated aromatics are produced by treatment of an aromatic sulfonate with hydrochloric acid and sodium chlorate [7775-09-9J. Nitriles (qv) (see Supplement) can be produced by reaction of a sulfonate with a cyanide salt. Arenesulfonates can be converted to amines with the use of ammonia. This transformation is also rather facile using mono- and dialkylamines. 

The most important use of ammonia is in the production of nitric acid (HNO3). Ammonia burns in oxygen, releasing hydrogen to form water and free nitrogen. With the catalysts platinum and rhodium, ammonia is oxidized and reacted with water to form nitric acid. Nitric acid treated... 

The major end use of ammonia is the fertilizer field for the production of urea, ammonium nitrate and ammonium phosphate, and sulfate. Anhydrous ammonia could be directly applied to the soil as a fertilizer. Urea is gaining wide acceptance as a slow-acting fertilizer. 

In certain direct steam-contact process applications (such as in food and beverage processing or pharmaceutical preparations) the use of amine-based products in steam and condensate systems is subject to legal restrictions. Also, the use of ammonia or amines may be dependent on the materials of construction employed or technical limitations (such as the risk of copper alloy corrosion). 

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