Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
AMMONIA (NH
)
3
Properties
Ammonia is a colorless gas with a suffocating,
pungent odor. It is readily liquefied under pressure.
The gas is very soluble in water to produce
ammonium hydroxide, also known as ammonia
water or aqua ammonia.
Commercial grades
Shipped as a liquid in steel cylinders under pressure.
Uses
Mainly for the manufacture of nitric acid, urea, and
ammonium salts, all of which are used in fertilizers
and explosives. Urea is also used in the manufacture
of plastics.
catalyst
Manufacture
3H
hydroge
2
+
N
2
2NH
3
nitrogen
Suppliers
There are dozens of suppliers, some of which are Air
Products and Chemicals, Cytec Industries, LaRoche
Industries, Coyne Chemical, Hill Brothers
Chemical, and J.R. Simplot Co.
The production of ammonia is extremely important because of the need to
grow ever-increasing amounts of food to feed the world's population. It was
first recognized about 1840 that the application of nitrogen-containing chem-
icals such as nitrates to farmland substantially increases crop yields. There
are no abundant nitrate ores from which nitrogen fertilizers can be made.
However, in the early 1900s, a German named Haber demonstrated in his
laboratory that normally unreactive nitrogen in the air can be combined with
hydrogen under pressure over a catalyst to produce ammonia. The first plant
to make ammonia by the
was started in 1913. Haber received
a Nobel Prize in 1919 for his work. About 75% of the synthetic ammonia
produced is used in fertilizers, while 20% is used within the chemical
industry. The other 5% goes into the manufacture of explosives and gun-
powder.
Haber process
