Ammonia synthesis reaction

Strongin D R, Carrazza J, Bare S R and Somoqai G A 1987 The importance of Cj sites and surface roughness in the ammonia synthesis reaction over iron J. Catal. 103 213... 

Because the ammonia synthesis reaction is an equiUbrium, the quantity of ammonia depends on temperature, pressure, and the H2 to-N2 ratio. At 500°C and 20.3 MPa (200 atm), the equiUbrium mixture contains 17.6% ammonia. The ammonia formed is removed from the exit gases by condensation at about —20° C, and the gases are recirculated with fresh synthesis gas into the reactor. The ammonia must be removed continually as its presence decreases both the equiUbrium yield and the reaction rate by reducing the partial pressure of the N2—H2 mixture. 

Synthesis Temperature. Because of the exothermic nature of the ammonia synthesis reaction, higher temperatures increase reaction rates, but the equihbrium amount of ammonia decreases. Thermal degradation of the catalyst also increases with temperature. 

These pioneers understood the interplay between chemical equiUbrium and reaction kinetics indeed, Haber s research, motivated by the development of a commercial process, helped to spur the development of the principles of physical chemistry that account for the effects of temperature and pressure on chemical equiUbrium and kinetics. The ammonia synthesis reaction is strongly equiUbrium limited. The equiUbrium conversion to ammonia is favored by high pressure and low temperature. Haber therefore recognized that the key to a successful process for making ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen was a catalyst with a high activity to allow operation at low temperatures where the equiUbrium is relatively favorable. 

The reverse reaction to ammonia synthesis, the decomposition to nitrogen and hydrogen, is used in die nitriding of iron and canied out industiially at temperatures around 800 K and atmospheric pressure to produce surfacehardening. This dissolution reaction must also play a part in the synthesis of ammonia by the industiial process. The attempt to ninide non by reaction with nin ogen gas is vety slow under atmospheric pressure, presumably due to the stability of the nitrogen molecule. 

The compressed synthesis gas is dried, mixed with a recycle stream, and introduced into the synthesis reactor after the recycle compressor. The gas mixture is chilled and liquid ammonia is removed from the secondary separator. The vapor is heated and passed into the ammonia converter. The feed is preheated inside the converter prior to entering the catalyst bed. The reaction occurs at 450-600°C over an iron oxide catalyst. The ammonia synthesis reaction between nitrogen, N2, and hydrogen, Hj, is... 

The production of ammonia is of historical interest because it represents the first important application of thermodynamics to an industrial process. Considering the synthesis reaction of ammonia from its elements, the calculated reaction heat (AH) and free energy change (AG) at room temperature are approximately -46 and -16.5 KJ/mol, respectively. Although the calculated equilibrium constant = 3.6 X 108 at room temperature is substantially high, no reaction occurs under these conditions, and the rate is practically zero. The ammonia synthesis reaction could be represented as follows ... 

Promotion We use the term promotion, or classical promotion, to denote the action of one or more substances, the promoter or promoters, which when added in relatively small quantities to a catalyst, improves the activity, selectivity or useful lifetime of the catalyst. In general a promoter may either augment a desired reaction or suppress an undesired one. For example, K or K2O is a promoter of Fe for the synthesis of ammonia. A promoter is not, in general, consumed during a catalytic reaction. If it does get consumed, however, as is often the case in electrochemical promotion utilizing O2 conducting solid electrolytes, then we will refer to this substance as a sacrificial promoter. 

A classical example of promotion is the use of alkalis (K) on Fe for the ammonia synthesis reaction. Coadsorbed potassium (in the form of K20) significantly enhances the dissociative adsorption of N2 on the Fe surface, which is the crucial and rate limiting step for the ammonia synthesis5 (Fig. 2.1). 

In an exothermic reaction, such as the synthesis of ammonia or a combustion reaction, the heat released by the reaction increases the disorder of the surroundings. In some cases, the entropy of the system may decrease, as when a gaseous reactant is converted into a solid or liquid. However, provided that AH is large and negative, the release of energy as heat into the surroundings increases their entropy so much that it dominates the overall change in entropy and the reaction is spontaneous (Fig. 7.18). 

Write the equilibrium constant for the ammonia synthesis reaction, reaction C. 

Self-Test 9.7A The equilibrium constant for the ammonia synthesis (reaction C) is K = 41 at 127°C. What is the value of Kc at that temperature ... 

The reactant is adsorbed on the catalyst s surface. As a reactant molecule attaches to the surface of the catalyst, its bonds are weakened and the reaction can proceed more quickly because the bonds are more easily broken (Fig. 13.36). One important step in the reaction mechanism of the Haber process for the synthesis of ammonia is the adsorption of N2 molecules on the iron catalyst and the weakening of the strong N=N triple bond. 

Since the first synthesis of ammonia, catalyst development and chemical reaction engineering have been instrumental in the creation of the chemical process industry. As a result, catalytic processes have contributed much to the realization of prosperous civilizaticm. In the future, catalytic processes are expected to fulfill important roles in petroleum refining, diemical processing and environmental preservation. However, at present, many catalytic processes discharge large amounts of byproducts and consume large amounts of auxiliary raw materials. 

As an example, consider the industrial synthesis of ammonia (NH3). Ammonia is made by the Haber process, a single chemical reaction between molecules of hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2) Although it is simple, this synthesis has immense industrial importance. The United States produces more than 16 billion kilograms of ammonia annually. 

Stoichiometric coefficients describe the relative numbers of molecules involved in the reaction. In any actual reaction, immense numbers of molecules are involved, but the relative numbers are always related through the stoichiometric coefficients. Further, these coefficients describe both the relative numbers of molecules and the relative numbers of moles involved in the reaction. For example, the Haber reaction always involves immense numbers of molecules, but the equation describing the synthesis of ammonia tells us the following ... 

If the percent yield of a reaction is already known, we can calculate how much of a product to expect from a synthesis that uses a known amount of starting material. For example, the Haber synthesis of ammonia stops when 13% of the starting materials have formed products. Knowing this, how much ammonia could an industrial producer expect to make from 2.0 metric tons of molecular hydrogen First, calculate the theoretical yield ... 

C04-0122. The following diagram represents a small portion of a reaction vessel that contains the starting materials for the Haber synthesis of ammonia ... 

In this example, only one of the reagents has a concentration that can vaiy, and each stoichiometric coefficient is one. What happens for a more complicated reaction Consider the synthesis of ammonia carried out in a pressurized reactor containing N2, H2, and NH3 at partial pressures different from 1 bar ... 

For a reaction at equilibrium, the rate of the forward reaction is balanced exactly by the rate of the reverse reaction. For this reason, any equilibrium reaction can be written in either direction. The equilibrium constant for the Flaber synthesis of ammonia, for example, can be expressed in two ways ... 

As an example of how these expressions are used in practical situations, we will calculate the extent to which the ammonia synthesis reaction... 

The first step in constructing a micro-kinetic model is to identify all the elementary reaction steps that may be involved in the catalytic process we want to describe, in this case the synthesis of ammonia. The overall reaction is... 

What is the rate-determining step of the ammonia synthesis reaction Describe the function of promoters in the ammonia synthesis catalyst. 

In this paper we will discuss the results that we have obtained studying two important processes, the synthesis of ammonia over Fe and Re catalysts and the hydrodesulfurization of thiophene on Mo. These examples illustrate two problems in catalysis to which our methods are particularly sensitive. The first is the effect of the structure of the catalyst on reaction rates. The sensitivity of the... 

Kinetics of Ammonia Synthesis on Re Crystal Surfaces. The kinetics of the ammonia synthesis reaction on Re were studied on the Re(ll50) surface which is composed of atoms having seven-fold coordination. The rate of production at 70 K and 20 atm. ... 

From what we know today about PET in biological and synthetic membrane or layered systems, we may expect that the non-biological apparatus providing photogeneration of spatially separated one-electron reductant and oxidant is likely to be developed in a rather universal way and may be expected to accomplish in the future not only water cleavage, but also various other redox reactions, such e.g., as photochemical synthesis of ammonia via the hv... 

A chemical reactor is an apparatus of any geometric configuration in which a chemical reaction takes place. Depending on the mode of operation, process conditions, and properties of the reaction mixture, reactors can differ from each other significantly. An apparatus for the continuous catalytic synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen, operated at 720 K and 300 bar is completely different from a batch fermenter for the manufacture of ethanol from starch operated at 300 K and 1 bar. The mode of operation, process conditions, and physicochemical properties of the reaction mixture will be decisive in the selection of the shape and size of the reactor. 

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