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Introduction

Introduction: In this assignment I am going to explain two industries process that produce two different chemical products, also I am going to explain what Haber process is and contact process. And find out what are the advantage and disadvantage of Haber process and contact process. The Haber process: The Haber process combines nitrogen from the air with hydrogen derived mainly from natural gas (methane) into ammonia. The reaction is reversible and the production of ammonia is exothermic. * medium temperature (~500oC) * very high pressure (~250 atmospheres, ~351kPa) * A catalyst (a porous iron catalyst prepared by reducing magnetite, Fe3O4). Osmium is a much better catalyst for the reaction but is very expensive. This process produces an ammonia, NH3 (g), yield of approximately 10-20%. The Haber synthesis was developed into an industrial process by Carl Bosch. The reaction between nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas to produce ammonia gas is exothermic, releasing 92.4kJ/mol of energy at 298K (25oC). N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen heat, pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia H = -92.4 kJ mol-1 Or N2(g) ...read more.

Middle

The remaining mixture of reactant gases is recycled through the reactor. The heat released by the reaction is removed and used to heat the incoming gas mixture. The uses of ammonia The farmers use ammonia as fertilizers on their fields, (which accounts for 90% of the nitrogenous fertilizers used). Nitric acid is a product of ammonia and is used in the production of explosives. Ammonia is a major chemical used in many of the households for cleaning. Straight ammonia, or ammonia mixed in window cleaners, floor cleaners are present in most homes. Refrigerators use ammonia as a cooling agent. The Haber process is used to manufacture ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. Ammonia could then be used to make nitric acid, which reacts with ammonia to create ammonium nitrate, which is a very important fertilizer. The raw materials for creating ammonia are air for nitrogen (N2 (g)) and methane and water for hydrogen (H2 (g)). Hydrogen is process by taking methane (CH4 (g)) and reacting it with steam (H2O (g)) and thus creating carbon dioxide (CO2 (g)) ...read more.

Conclusion

nitric acid is used to react with ammonia to produce ammonium nitrate. * Ammonium is reacted with sulphuric acid to produce ammonium sulphate. * In the rivers fertilisers does the same, the river plants grow and algae grows rapidly, because of the abundant food supply. * If the pressure is high and the reaction speed up it effectively increases high concentration. * If the pressure is low and the reaction goes slow it effectively decreases and low concentration. * The reaction at a low temperature it is an exothermic reaction favoured by low temperature, but this may produce too slow a rate of reaction. Disadvantages of the Haber process * Requires a lot of electricity and that costs money. * After applying the fertiliser and it rains, or too much fertiliser is used it gets into stream or rivers and pollutes them. * The algae then die in large numbers. * And the bacteria feeding on the dead plants then use up a lot of the oxygen in the water. * Fishes may then die because of the lack of oxygen in the water. * Also too high of nitrates in the drinking water is a health hazard, particularly with infants. * Nitrate can interfere with the flow of oxygen in the blood stream. ...read more.

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