ammonia

harber process to produce ammonia

• N₂ + 3H₂ ⇌ 2NH₃

  - nitrogen obtained from fractional distillation of liquid air (physical change) hydrogen obtained from cracking of crude oil (chemical change)

- forward reaction: exothermic , backward reaction: endothermic

conditions to produce ammonia

• conditions: pressure: 250 atm, temp: 450°C, catalyst: finely divided iron

why finely divided iron catalyst

• finely divided for smaller particle size to increase surface area, increasing frequency of effective collision between reacting particles for faster rate of reaction

• catalyst to lower activation energy increasing frequency of effective collision between reacting particles for faster rate of reaction

why is unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen recycled

• for further reaction to conserve finite resources and increase overall yield of ammonia produced