NITROGEN INDUSTRIES

INTRODUCTION

 Nitrogen is abundant in air can be fixed to

ammonia by reacting with hydrogen
 This is used for low-cost chemical supply
 Mostly as nitrogen fertilizers and most
nitrogen compounds
 As Indonesian economy based on agriculture
and agriculture based on fertilizers, nitrogen
industry plays important role in it
NITROGEN

 Atomic number is 7
 Nitrogen makes up around 78 percent in our surrounding atmosphere
 Nitrogen is colourless, odourless, and tasteless gas
 Nitrogen is one of the primary nutrients critical for the survival of all living organisms. Nitrogen is
present as one of the building blocks or constituents of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and other
biomolecular.
 Nitrogen is largely inaccessible in this form to most organisms, making nitrogen a scarce resource and
often limiting primary productivity in many ecosystems. Only when nitrogen is converted from
dinitrogen gas into ammonia (NH3) does it become available to primary producers, such as plants.
CONSUMPTION PATTERN

 The end uses for ammonia worldwide:

 Direct application as fertilizer 25%
 Urea (fertilizer and plastic) 21%
 Ammonium phosphate 16%
 Nitric acid 12%
 Miscellaneous 12%
 Ammonium nitrate 8%
 Ammonium sulfate 3%
 Acrylonitrile 3%
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

 Raw material : air, water, hydrocarbons, and power

 Reaction

 Because the product molecule, ammonia, has a lower volume than the reactant molecules, the
equilibrium yield of ammonia is increased by increasing pressure.
 Temperature increase produces the opposite effect on the equilibrium, but increase the rate of reaction.
 Since hydrogen and nitrogen alone react together extremely slowly, syntheses require an efficient
catalyst to increase reaction rate.
 Catalysts : iron with added promoters - oxides of aluminum, zirconium, or silicon, etc.
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

 Manufacturing consists essentially of six phases

1. manufacture of reactant gases

2. purification
3. compression
4. catalytic reaction
5. recovery of ammonia formed
6. recirculation