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High-Pressure Synthesis and Later Developments

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Nitrogen Capture

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Abstract

The commercial development of high pressure synthesis has been largely ‘hydrogenation,’ whether of nitrogen to produce ammonia, or of carbon monoxide to produce methanol, or of various hydrocarbons to produce more valuable products. In this latter field, by high pressure synthesis, it is now possible for the first time to change or control the ratio of hydrogen to carbon atoms in any hydrocarbon, and even to change aliphatic compounds to naphthenic and aromatic bodies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    From around 1900, Sabatier hydrogenated organic compounds in the presence of catalysts, a method that led to industrial processes for hydrogenating oils and fats, and in turn demand for hydrogen. However, the reaction conditions were far removed from those used in the synthesis of ammonia.

  2. 2.

    Hydrocarbon feedstocks must be carefully purified prior to reforming. In the case of methane, the catalyst poison sulphur is reacted with hydrogen over a catalyst. The resulting hydrogen sulphide is then converted, by reaction with zinc oxide, to zinc sulphide, which is readily removed. Next is the process of primary steam reforming over a nickel catalyst in tubes held in a furnace, to give hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This is followed by secondary reforming, when air is injected into the gas mixture, again over a nickel catalyst. The nitrogen-hydrogen composition is made up in the proportions required for ammonia synthesis. Steam reforms any remaining methane. The mixture then consists of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. As in the earlier processes, the shift reaction converts the monoxide to dioxide. Once oxides of carbon are removed the synthesis gas is ready for conversion into ammonia.

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  1. Sidney M. Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Anthony S. Travis

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  1. Anthony S. Travis
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Travis, A.S. (2018). High-Pressure Synthesis and Later Developments. In: Nitrogen Capture. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68963-0_16

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