UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF
CHEMICAL AND BIOENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

MINI PROJECT

TITLE: PRODUCTION OF AMMONIA

ENGINEERING DRAWING
(CCB 20702)

GROUP:

NO. NAME I.D NUMBER Contribution Page Number

1 Muhamad Hafiz bin Arif Amerudin 5522011809 Process description for 7, 10
3 ammonia and
refrigeration, PnID
2 Mohd Dzul Fariq bin Mohd Zol 5522011809 Process description for 5, 13
1 reformers, conclusions
3 Ahmad Ikhwan Hanif Bin Khalid 5522011808 Introduction, process 4, 6
9 description for CO2
removal equipments
4 Ahmad Khairulddin bin Mohd Salihin 5522011808 Summary, Process 3, 6
8 description for shift
converters and
methanator
Contents
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................3
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Process Description...............................................................................................................................5
Primary Reformer..............................................................................................................................5
Secondary Reformer..........................................................................................................................5
Shift Converter...................................................................................................................................6
Separation Column............................................................................................................................6
Methanator.......................................................................................................................................6
Ammonia Synthesis...........................................................................................................................7
Refrigeration Section.........................................................................................................................7
Block Flow Diagram (BFD)......................................................................................................................8
Process Flow Diagram (PFD)..................................................................................................................9
...............................................................................................................................................................9
Process Instrument Diagram (PNID)....................................................................................................10
2D Drawing of The Equipment.............................................................................................................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
Reference............................................................................................................................................14
Appendices..........................................................................................................................................15
Executive Summary

To summarise, ammonia production is very important nowadays because it is widely

used as fertilizer, refrigerant gas. Ammonia is also used in manufacturing industry such as
manufacture of plastics and pesticides. Thus, it is very important to design the process of
ammonia production in proper and ideal method to make sure the optimum production rate
and finest quality product.

Hence, this process design consists five main processes to produce the final product
which is ammonia. Firstly, the base feed (methane and steam) pass through a pair of
reformers. The reformers convert the feed to hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The carbon
monoxide is then converted to carbon dioxide in next process which is shift conversion.

Next, it passes through separation column for the third process which remove the CO 2
from the stream and then the methanation process will make sure that the poisonous gasses
(CO and CO2) are removed completely. Finally, the stream will undergo the ammonia
synthesis reaction to produce the final product, NH3.
Introduction
Ammonia is a compound that formed from covalent bonding of a nitrogen atom and 3
hydrogen atoms. It is a colourless gas that has distinct odour. Ammonia also appears as
colourless liquid when dissolves in water. It also has corrosive property as it can corrodes
the metal .Ammonia can occur naturally in the air, water, animals and also human. In
human, ammonia is produced from the breakdown of protein and the ammonia is then
changing to urea. In life, ammonia is useful for the production of fertiliser as it acts as
nutrient supply in soil for crops. Ammonia is also used in household cleaning products. It is
effective in cleaning fats and oil base stains as it evaporates quickly (ChemicalSafetyFactd,
2019).
Ammonia was first discovered by Joseph Priestley in 1774, and the chemical formula which
is NH3 was uncovered in 1785, Claude-Louis Berthollet (Seagrave, 2019). The ammonia
production process which is Haber process is discovered by a chemist, Haber, in 1905 and
was soon scaled up by Carl Bosch. Haber process use high pressure and catalyst to perform
the reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas directly in order to create ammonia
(Seagrave, 2019).
In industry, ammonia majorly used as fertilizer. It includes urea and ammonium salt
(ammonium phosphates, ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate). Globally, it is
approximated 85% of ammonia is used fertilizer. The remainder of 15% treated as
explosives, polymers, refrigerants and reducing agent. It can also used as wastewater
treatment and stabiliser for beverage industry.
For ammonia production, the ideal condition for temperature is 450 0c. If the temperature is
lower the yield will increase but the reaction will be slow. Lower temperature is not suitable
for industry. The value of pressure is 200 atm in industry as high pressure will increase the
cost to set up and maintain the pressure (MyTutor, 2015). Ammonia can be produced from
either natural gas, coal and oil. Natural gas is more preferred as it rich with hydrogen and
less expensive.
Process Description
Primary Reformer

The primary reformer is an equipment consist of vertical nickel alloy tubes containing
nickel as catalyst. The process occurred in the reformer is endothermic and heat is needed
to increase the temperature to 780 oC and burning natural gas will supply enough heat for
the reaction to occur.
At the primary reformer, two reactions occurred which are methane gas is mixed with
the hot steam at 780 oC producing a mixture of gases, containing carbon monoxide and
hydrogen and also carbon monoxide will also reacted with water producing more hydrogen
and carbon dioxide:
CH4 + H2O ↔ CO + 3H2
CO + H2O ↔ CO2 + H2
The formation of products favours La Chatelier’s principle due to the high temperature and
low pressure. CO2, NOx, with small amounts of SO2 and CO leaves the convection section as
flue gases at 100-200°C

Secondary Reformer

Due to only 30% to 40% of the hydrocarbon feed is reformed in the primary reactor,
the temperature in the secondary reformer must be increased to increase the conversion.
The secondary steam reforming reacts oxygen from the air and hydrogen in a burner
and the resulting mixture is passed through nickel catalyst. At 1000 oC, 99% of the methane
feed is converted and reforms most of the residual methane about 0.2%.
2H2 + O2 → 2H2O
CH4 + H2O ↔ CO + 3H2
The gas is then cooled in a heat exchanger to 400 oC and enters the shift converter.
Shift Converter

About 13% of the gases products from the secondary reforming is CO (dry gas base) and it
undergoes the following reaction to be converted in the shift section:
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
In the High Temperature Shift (HTS) conversion, CO is reduced to around 3% (dry gas
base) which is by passed through a bed of iron/chromium oxide catalyst at 400 oC limited by
the shift equilibrium at the actual operation temperature. The gas from the HTS is then
cooled and passed through the Low Temperature Shift (LTS) converter.
The LTS converter uses a copper oxide-based catalyst for higher conversion and it
operates at the temperature of 200-220oC. The residual CO content after the conversion is
around 0.2-0.4% (dry gas base) in the converted gas. These conversions processes are
important for the efficiency of the process as low residual CO content increases the
efficiency.

Separation Column

The process gas at the shift converter consists of CO 2 and excess product steam. The
process gas is cooled before entering the separation column to separate the CO 2. All type of
gas other than methane, hydrogen and nitrogen is stripped. An energy efficient process will
remove the CO2 at low heat condition. The CO 2 is removed either in a chemical absorption
or physical absorption. For chemical absorption, special catalyst is used such as aqueous
amine solution and heat. For physical absorption, it does not involve any heat but need to
consider mechanical energy.

Methanator

This reaction converts the remaining CO and CO 2 gases to methane (CH4) in the
methanator:
CO + 3H2 → CH4 + H2O
CO + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O
The remaining CO and CO2 in the synthesis gas are poisonous for the ammonia
production catalyst even they remain in small amount, therefore they must be removed in
this reaction. The reactions undergo at 300 oC in a reactor filled with a nickel containing
catalyst. The reactions start with cooling and condensation downstream of the reactor. The
reactions then finished by condensation/absorption in the product ammonia in gas drying
unit.
Ammonia Synthesis

The production of ammonia consists of nitrogen and hydrogen atoms only. Nitrogen and
hydrogen atoms must be splitted in the reactor so the atoms can be combined to become
ammonia, NH3.

N2 + 3H2  2NH2 ∆Ho = –46kJ/mol

The production of ammonia takes place on an iron catalyst as the iron remains unchanged
throughout the process. The reactor pressures usually in the range 100-250bar and
temperatures in the range 350-550oC. The overall reaction is an exothermic reaction and
releases heat to the surroundings. Therefore, the ammonia is in vapour state due to the high
temperature. After the ammonia is produced, it will undergo the condensation process to
convert it into liquid form of ammonia.

Refrigeration Section

An extensive heat exchanger is needed due to the exothermic reaction which is the production
of ammonia. The ammonia vapour is converted into liquid form by cooling or condensation.
The unreacted hydrogen and nitrogen is directed into the large recycle stream to be reacted in
the reactor. The conversion of nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia is only up to 20-30% but
with the recycle stream it can up to 95% of conversion. The liquified ammonia is stored in the
large tanks after the condensation is finished.
Block Flow Diagram (BFD)
Process Flow Diagram (PFD)
M-101 P-101-102 E-101,102,104 E-103 R-101 C-101-103 T-101-103
Mixer Pump Heat Exchanger Condenser Reactor Compressor Separator
column
Process Instrument Diagram (PNID)
2D Drawing of The Equipment
Name of equipment : Reformer
Name of PIC : Mohd Dzul Fariq bin Mohd Zol

Name of equipment : Methanator

Name of PIC : Ahmad Khairulddin bin Mohd Salihin
Name of equipment : CO2 Absorber
Name of PIC : Ahmad Ikhwan Hanif bin Khalid

Name of equipment : Ammonia Reactor

Name of PIC : Muhamad Hafiz bin Arif Amerudin
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ammonia is produced through Haber process which hydrogen synthesised from
methane reacted with nitrogen from air with equation N 2(g) + 3H2(g) ↔ 2NH3(g) with the overall
process is exothermic reaction. The process of the synthesis of ammonia started by flowing methane
with steam producing hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide at the primary reformer and
undergo combustion at the secondary reformer to increase the conversion of methane toward 98%
and passed through the shift converter to convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide so that the
amount of carbon monoxide can be reduced to 0.2 – 0.4%. Then, the process gas flow through the
separation column that will removed the carbon dioxide from the process gas and methanator to
convert the remaining carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into methane and to be removed.
Lastly, the ammonia synthesis reactor will produce ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen atoms
that were split on an iron catalyst at 100- 250 bar,350 - 550 oC , undergo condensation producing
ammonia in liquid form and the unreacted hydrogen and nitrogen will then enter the recycle stream
so that the conversion increased to 95% to be stored in large tanks.
Reference
ChemicalSafetyFactd. (2019, June 15). Ammonia Uses and Benefits: Chemical Safety
Facts. Retrieved from https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/ammonia/.

Seagrave, W. (2019, November 18). History of the Universe : Ammonia. Retrieved from
https://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/?p=ammonia.htm.

MyTutor. (2015, August 15). What would the ideal conditions for the Haber process (nitrogen
hydrogen to ammonia) be? Why are the ideal conditions not used in industry? Retrieved
from https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/13516/A-Level/Chemistry/What-would-the-ideal-
conditions-for-the-Haber-process-nitrogen-hydrogen-to-ammonia-be-Why-are-the-ideal-
conditions-not-used-in-industry/.
Appendices

Figure 1

Figure 2
Figure 3

Figure 4