2. History
โข Reaction was discovered by Bosch and was published in
his 1905 book1,2
โข Fritz Haber received a Nobel price in 1918 for the
synthesis of ammonia from its constituents elements2
โข Carl Bosch made it an industrial process to make
explosives
โข First commercial high-pressure synthesis of ammonia in
19132 using Haber process
โข Ammonia is very useful โ explosives, fertilizer, Ostwald
process
(1) Haber, F. The synthesis of ammonia from its elements Nobel Lecture, June 2, 1920. Resonance. 2002, 7, 86-94.
(2) Fritz Haber โ Biographical. 2014. Nobelprize.org. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1918/haber-bio.html (accessed Mar 16, 2016).
(3) Modak, J.M. Haber process for ammonia synthesis. Resonance. 2002, 7, 69-77.
4. Raw Materials4
Nitrogen from air
Hydrogen from natural gas
3๐ป2(๐) + ๐2(๐) โ 2๐๐ป3(๐) โH = -92.44 kJ/mol
Reaction conditions
500 0C
200 atm
Fe catalyst
(4) Appl, M. Ammonia. In Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, Germany, 2006.
5. Optimizing reaction rate and yield
โขForward reaction is exothermic
โขAmmonia yield is favoured at low temperatures
โขBut reactions are slower at lower temperatures
โขFe catalyst increases reaction rate
๐๐ฏ ๐(๐) + ๐ต ๐(๐) โ ๐๐ต๐ฏ ๐(๐) โH = -92.44 kJ/mol