Haber Process

5.21 recall that nitrogen from air, and hydrogen from natural gas or the cracking
of hydrocarbons, are used in the manufacture of ammonia
So if they ask what are the raw materials used in the Haber process, you know it. It's nitrogen from
the air and hydrogen either from natural gas, which is methane (CH4); or from the cracking of
hydrocarbons.

5.22 describe the manufacture of ammonia by the Haber process, including the
essential conditions:
i. a temperature of about 450C
ii. a pressure of about 200 atmospheres
iii. an iron catalyst
Remember these conditions!! And remember that the reaction is reversible. Also, the forwards
reactions is exothermic.
N2 + 3H2 2NH3

So decreasing the temperature would actually increase the yield, however, it is still done at a fairly
high temperature to speed up the reaction. It makes the rate of reaction faster so the manufacturers
get their ammonia quicker, as they say, time is money. The reaction would be too slow otherwise at
low temperatures. It would be useless to have a low temperature and achieve a high yield of
ammonia if it's going to take ages. You need the gases to reach equilibrium within the
very short time that they will be in contact with the catalyst in the
reactor.So 450C is a compromise, and still produces a reasonably high
proportion
of
ammonia.
The catalyst does NOT affect the amount of products made. The yield of ammonia stays the same,
you just get it faster because it speeds up the reaction by lowering the activation energy needed for
the reaction. :)
Increasing the pressure would favour the forwards reaction which is what is wanted, to get more
ammonia. This is because if you look at the balanced equation, there are 4 moles of gas on the
reactants side (left) but 2 moles of gas (ammonia) on the right hand side (products). So according to
Le Chatelier's principle where you try to remove the change, if you increase pressure, the
equlibrium would move to the right hand side to decrease pressure. And the products have less

pressure

because

there

are

only

moles

there.

Also, just as an extra, just thought that this will be useful to know and is very
logical: :)
Credit for the information goes to
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/haber.html
And no plagiarism was intended!
Rate considerations
Increasing the pressure brings the molecules closer together. In this particular
instance, it will increase their chances of hitting and sticking to the surface of
the catalyst where they can react. The higher the pressure the better in terms
of
the
rate
of
a
gas
reaction.
Economicconsiderations
Very high pressures are very expensive to produce on two counts.
You have to build extremely strong pipes and containment vessels to withstand
the very high pressure. That increases your capital costs when the plant is
built.
High pressures cost a lot to produce and maintain. That means that the running
costs
of
your
plant
are
very
high.
Thecompromise
200 atmospheres is a compromise pressure chosen on economic grounds. If the
pressure used is too high, the cost of generating it exceeds the price you can
get for the extra ammonia produced.

5.23 understand how the cooling of the reaction mixture liquefies the ammonia produced
and allows the unused hydrogen and nitrogen to be recirculated

Separating the ammonia

When the gases leave the reactor they are hot and at a very high pressure.
Ammonia is easily liquefied under pressure as long as it isn't too hot, and so
the temperature of the mixture is lowered enough for the ammonia to turn to a
liquid. The nitrogen and hydrogen remain as gases even under these high
pressures, and can be recycled.
Recycling
At each pass of the gases through the reactor, only about 15% of the nitrogen
and hydrogen converts to ammonia. (This figure also varies from plant to
plant.) By continual recycling of the unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen, the
overall conversion is about 98%.

5.24 recall the use of ammonia in the manufacture of nitric acid and fertilisers
So ammonia is used to make nitric acid and fertilisers, as you know from bio, plants need nitrates to
grow.
Just in case you want to know, here are some properties of ammonia:

alkaline gas (turns damp red litmus paper blue, which is the test for ammonia!)
extremely soluble in water--it forms a weak alkali-->ammonia solution
less dense than air
colourless gas with pungent odour

Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid

Raw materials used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid

The raw materials are:
sulphur (sulphur is found in rocks and some natural gases)
oxygen (from the air)
water

Manufacture of sulfuric acid by the contact process

Essential conditions:
Temperature of about 450C
Pressure of about 2 atmospheres
A vanadium(V) oxide catalyst

Stage 1: making sulfur dioxide

Either burn sulfur in air:
S(s) + O2(g) --> SO2(g)
or heat sulfide ores strongly in air:
4FeS2(s) + 11O2(g) 2Fe2O3(s) + 8SO2(g)
(FeS2 is pyrite or iron pyrite)
Stage 2: Making sulfur trioxide
The sulfur dioxide is converted into sulfur trioxide using an excess of air from the previous
processes.
2SO2(g) + O2(g) 2SO3(g) H= -196 kJ/mol
An excess of oxygen is used in this reaction, because it is important that as much sulfur dioxide as
possible is converted into sulfur trioxide. Having sulfur dioxide left over at the end of the reaction is
wasteful, and can cause dangerous pollution. (Sulfur dioxide gas can dissolve in water and form
acid rain)
As the forwards reaction is exothermic (releases heat due to bonds being created), there would be a
higher percentage conversion of sulfur dioxide into sulfur trioxide at a low temperature. However,
at a low temperature, the rate of reaction would be slow. 450C is a compromise. Even so, there is
already about a 99.5% conversion.
There are 3 gas molecules on the left-hand side of the equation, but only 2 on the right. Reactions in
which number of gas molecules decrease are favoured by high pressures. (Le Chatelier's principle
where you're trying to remove the change, if you increase pressure, moving the equilibrium to the
side with less gas molecules would decrease pressure). The conversion is so good at low pressures
already that it isn't economically worthwhile to use higher pressures. A pressure of 2 atmospheres is
sufficient.
The catalyst, vanadium (V) oxide, has no effect on the percentage conversion, but helps to speed up
the reaction. Without the catalyst, the reaction would be extremely slow.
Catalysts remain chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction. They help to speed up the rate of
reaction, by providing an alternative pathway with a lower activation energy (minimum amount of
energy needed for a reaction to take place). If the activation energy is lowered, more particles will
have the required activation energy so there will be a greater number of the collisions.
Stage 3: Making the sulfuric acid
You can react sulfur trioxide with water to make sulfuric acid.
SO3(g) + H2O(l) --> H2SO4(aq)

In practice, this produces an uncontrollable fog of concentrated sulfuric acid. Instead, the sulfur
trioxide is absorbed in concentrated sulfuric acid to give fuming sulfuric acid (also called oleum).
H2SO4(l) +SO3(g) --> H2S2O7 (l)
This is converted into twice as much concentrated sulfuric acid by careful addition of water.
H2S2O7(l) + H2O(l) ---> 2H2SO4(l)

The use of sulfuric acid in the manufacture of detergents,

fertilisers and paints
Sulfuric acid has a wide range of uses throughout the chemical industry.
Many detergents (including shampoos) use sulfates.
In fertilisers, it is reacted to make phosphates soluble to plants.
In paints, it is reacted with titanium ore to make a main pigment in pain