Ammonia Production
Ammonia is traditionally produced from hydrogen and nitrogen by the well-known Haber-Bosch process at large industrial scale. The conversion is typically conducted at 150–250 bar and 400-500 °C, as the feed gas mixture passes a series of fixed beds containing an Fe-based catalyst. As the conversion in the reactor does not normally exceed 15%, unreacted components are recycled to the reactor after separation of the ammonia product by cooling condensation.
The ARENHA project aims at the development of an innovative solution for the synthesis of ammonia. The synthesis unit will operate at relatively mild temperature and pressure conditions, made possible by the employment of novel catalyst materials and the application of ammonia separation/storage methods based on solid-state absorption. These characteristics will increase the overall efficiency and cost effectiveness of the system, and improve the flexibility towards feed flow rate variations.