Technical Ammonia Process and Synthesis Reactors

Based on methane, the overall stoichiometric equation of NH3 synthesis via steam reforming of natural gas (and the subsequent secondary reforming and water gas shift) is given by 

Equation (6.1.12) reflects the main route used today In 2010, the world ammonia production was 131 million tonnes (N) in total (159 million tonnes ammonia data from http //www.indexmundi.com/en/commodities/minerals/nitrogen/nitrogen tl2.html, accessed 27.10.2012). 77% of the production capacity is based on natural gas, followed by coal (13%), naphtha (6%), and heavy oil (4%) (numbers for 1998 from Appl, 1999). 

As examined in Section 4.10.3, temperature control is a cmcdal factor for exothermic fixed bed processes like ammonia synthesis and the reaction heat needs to be removed  

In industrial ammonia converters, it is impractical to reach exactly this optimum temperature profile. Two methods are applied to get at least dose to this optimum pathway  

Energy consumption (primary energy, lower heating value) (C) pert-NHs)  

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