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Industrial implementation of the ammonia synthesis -- How does it work

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Language: en

00:00:04.590
one of BASF first ammonia reactors
00:00:07.670 00:00:07.680 stands today in Ludwigshafen as an
00:00:09.560 00:00:09.570 eloquent testimony to the industrial
00:00:11.629 00:00:11.639 implementation by Carl Bosch in 1913 of
00:00:14.510 00:00:14.520 the laboratory scale ammonia synthesis
00:00:17.000 00:00:17.010 developed by Fritz Harbor the production
00:00:20.689 00:00:20.699 of this important basic chemical still
00:00:22.880 00:00:22.890 has its firm place within BASF skem
00:00:25.310 00:00:25.320 Astari for bond to combine the two
00:00:28.519 00:00:28.529 starting materials nitrogen and hydrogen
00:00:30.529 00:00:30.539 to produce ammonia the bonds in the
00:00:33.140 00:00:33.150 diatomic nitrogen molecule have to be
00:00:35.240 00:00:35.250 broken
00:00:37.090 00:00:37.100 under high pressures of more than 150
00:00:40.060 00:00:40.070 bar and temperatures above 400 degrees
00:00:42.310 00:00:42.320 centigrade nitrogen adsorbs onto an iron
00:00:45.279 00:00:45.289 based catalyst and is split up into
00:00:47.229 00:00:47.239 atoms
00:00:49.200 00:00:49.210 hydrogen can now be adsorbed and ammonia
00:00:52.200 00:00:52.210 is produced the catalyst itself remains
00:00:55.260 00:00:55.270 unchanged
00:00:58.639 00:00:58.649 this reaction generates heat and
00:01:00.830 00:01:00.840 therefore the reacting hot gas in the
00:01:03.170 00:01:03.180 ammonia reactor is cooled with a supply
00:01:05.539 00:01:05.549 of cold gas
00:01:08.790 00:01:08.800 is achieved with a sophisticated flow
00:01:10.590 00:01:10.600 system of synthesis gas based on the
00:01:12.870 00:01:12.880 heat exchange principle
00:01:15.399 00:01:15.409 in this way the so-called equilibrium
00:01:18.010 00:01:18.020 reaction can be prevented in which the
00:01:20.560 00:01:20.570 ammonia tends to decompose again to its
00:01:23.020 00:01:23.030 constituent elements the ammonia is
00:01:25.510 00:01:25.520 collected as a liquid and stored in
00:01:27.310 00:01:27.320 tanks the remaining synthesis gas is
00:01:29.980 00:01:29.990 returned to the reactor and forms more
00:01:31.990 00:01:32.000 ammonia
00:01:34.410 00:01:34.420 an important precondition for ammonia
00:01:37.170 00:01:37.180 synthesis is the efficient production of
00:01:39.510 00:01:39.520 pure hydrogen in several process steps
00:01:42.090 00:01:42.100 this precedes the actual ammonia
00:01:44.190 00:01:44.200 synthesis
00:01:47.890 00:01:47.900 in the primary reformer first the
00:01:50.530 00:01:50.540 natural gas methane is heated together
00:01:52.330 00:01:52.340 with steam to about 800 degrees
00:01:54.310 00:01:54.320 centigrade and is thereby converted into
00:01:57.010 00:01:57.020 a mixture of carbon monoxide carbon
00:01:59.290 00:01:59.300 dioxide and hydrogen in the downstream
00:02:02.830 00:02:02.840 secondary reformer air is then added and
00:02:05.530 00:02:05.540 the remaining methane gas is converted
00:02:07.630 00:02:07.640 at above a thousand degrees centigrade
00:02:09.580 00:02:09.590 by means of catalysts and nitrogen is
00:02:12.730 00:02:12.740 added since especially carbon monoxide
00:02:16.000 00:02:16.010 but also carbon dioxide would damage the
00:02:18.430 00:02:18.440 iron catalyst used in the ammonia
00:02:20.410 00:02:20.420 synthesis they have to be separated off
00:02:22.750 00:02:22.760 carbon monoxide is converted into carbon
00:02:25.690 00:02:25.700 dioxide in a two-stage process using
00:02:28.480 00:02:28.490 special catalysts the carbon dioxide can
00:02:32.320 00:02:32.330 be removed by a chemical scrubbing
00:02:34.000 00:02:34.010 process what remains is the pure
00:02:36.700 00:02:36.710 synthesis gas consisting of three parts
00:02:39.070 00:02:39.080 of hydrogen and one part of nitrogen
00:02:41.380 00:02:41.390 which can now be transferred to the
00:02:43.330 00:02:43.340 actual ammonia reactor a good three
00:02:46.060 00:02:46.070 quarters of the global output of ammonia
00:02:48.190 00:02:48.200 goes into fertilizer production where
00:02:50.740 00:02:50.750 the remainder is used for technical
00:02:52.510 00:02:52.520 products
00:02:54.300 00:02:54.310 the ASF Lee Chemical Company

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