Site items in: Improved Haber-Bosch

Vanadium As a Potential Catalytic Membrane Reactor Material for NH3 Production
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Vanadium As a Potential Catalytic Membrane Reactor Material for NH3 Production

Simona LiguoriJennifer Wilcox October 31, 2018

In solid or liquid states, ammonia salts and solutions are the active components of most synthetic fertilizers used in agriculture, which consume 83% of the world’s ammonia. Today, ammonia for fertilizers is industrially produced via the Haber-Bosch process at 400-500 °C and at pressures up to 30 MPa (300 bar). These harsh operating conditions are necessary due to the high affinity of dissociated nitrogen atoms towards the catalyst surface in addition to the high barrier associated with N2 dissociation. For these reasons, the need for advanced catalytic methods for the reduction of N2 to ammonia remains a requirement for sustainability…

Advances in Making High Purity Nitrogen for Small Scale Ammonia Generation
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Advances in Making High Purity Nitrogen for Small Scale Ammonia Generation

David ToyneJay Schmuecker October 31, 2018

The presentation will address recent developments in the Solar Hydrogen Demonstration Project in which hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia are made from solar power, water, and air; and used to fuel a modified John Deere farm tractor. In industrial applications very pure nitrogen is made by cryogenic distillation of air. Using Pressure Swing Absorption systems alone it is extremely difficult to achieve the required purity. An improved method was developed for making high purity nitrogen, for smaller systems. Will discuss how, when Oxygen contaminates the reactor catalyst, Hydrogen is used to purge the catalyst, and subsequently used as fuel.

Scale up and Scale Down Issues of Renewable Ammonia Plants: Towards Modular Design
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Scale up and Scale Down Issues of Renewable Ammonia Plants: Towards Modular Design

Antonio SánchezMariano Martín October 31, 2018

Renewable sources of energy such as biomass, solar, wind or geothermal just to mention some of the most widely extended are characterized by a highly distributed production across regions (EPA, 2017). Total renewable energy available is more than enough to provide for society needs, but the traditional production paradigm is changing. Economies of scale have featured current industry and its infrastructures based on large production complexes (i.e Dow, Exxonmobil or BASF hubs). The well-known six tenths rule has extensively been used in the chemical industry to scale up or down the cost of technologies. This rule is suitable for large…

Process Synthesis and Global Optimization of Novel Ammonia Production Processes
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Process Synthesis and Global Optimization of Novel Ammonia Production Processes

Doga DemirhanWilliam TsoEfstratios Pistikopoulos November 2, 2017

Synthetic ammonia production has played a huge role in sustaining population growth by providing the nitrogen in fertilizers that are widely used in modern agriculture. Even long after it was first commercially developed by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in the 1930s, the Haber-Bosch process remains the basis for industrial ammonia production today. Through reducing energy requirements by half in the last 50 years, centralized industrial plants have kept their technical and economic advantage over other modes of operation. However, the centralized production also comes with high transportation costs, since plant capacities usually exceed local ammonia consumption [1]. This and…

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Load Range Enhancement of Haber-Bosch Process Designs for NH3 Sustainable Energy Storage By Multi-Parametric Optimization

Izzat CheemaFlorian BaakesUlrike Krewer November 2, 2017

With the world’s major shift towards renewable energy, the need of chemicals-based energy storage has drastically increased, as renewable energy is intermittent and energy storage medium is required. Among several chemical energy storage options, ammonia is promising for renewable energy on utility-scale. The Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis was the first heterogeneous catalytic system employed in the chemical industry and developed over a period of century. However, the conventional ammonia process has been designed and optimized for steady state operation and high capacity. Power-to-ammonia requires a more flexible operation, small size reactors and decentralized production. The impact of adjustable parameters, such as,…