The Haber Process

• Used to manufacture ammonia which is used to produce nitrogen based fertilisers
• Raw materials are hydrogen and nitrogen
• • Nitrogen is obtain from the air and hydrogen is obtained from natural gas
  • the purified gases are passed over an iron catalyst at a temperature of 450 degrees at a pressure of 200 atmospheres
  • some of the hydrogen and nitrogen react to form ammonia
  • due to the reaction being reversible, the ammonia breaks down again into nitrogen and hydrogen
  • once cooled, the ammonia liquefies and is removed while the remaining hydrogen and nitrogen is recycled
• Reaction Conditions and Compromise:

  • is in dynamic equilibrium so the forward and backward reactions keep going once equilibrium is reached
  • chemical equation is N2 + 3H2 === 2NH2 - there are less moles of gas on the product, meaning you would increases pressure to move equilibrium to the right so more ammonia is produced
  • forwards reaction is exothermic so a low temperature would favour the forwards reaction, meaning more ammonia would be produced
  • high temperature is used as it increases the rate of reaction