GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Chandkheda, Ahmedabad
Affiliated

SHROFF S.R. ROTARY INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY

A
Project Report
On
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF AMMONIA

Under subject of
CHEMICAL PROCESS INDUSTRIES-I
B. E. Semester – III
Chemical Engineering

Submitted by:

NO. NAME OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT NO

1. ANANYA DAVE 170990105010

2. JASHRAJ DEVADHARA 170990105011

3. KISHAN DHARVIYA 170990105012

Ms. Dhara Rojivadiya

(Faculty Guide)

Dr. Alok Gautam

Head of the Department

Academic year
 (2018-2019)

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that project work embodied in this report Entitled

“INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF AMMONIA ” was carried out by ANANYA
DAVE(170990105010) JASHRAJ DEVADHARA (170990105011) KISHAN
DHARVIYA (170990105012), studying at Shroff S.R. Rotary Institute
Of Chemical Technology code no. 099 for partial fulfillment of the subject
CHEMICAL PROCESS INDUSTRIES-I.This project work has been carried
out under my guidance and supervision and it is up to my satisfaction.

Date:

Signature and name of faculty :

Mrs. Dhara Rojivadiya

 INDEX

SR TITLE PAGE
NO. NO.
1. Introduction 4
2. Industrial applications 5
 Introduction

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula

NH3. The simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia, is a colourless gas
with a characteristic pungent smell.
Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for the
synthesis of many pharmaceutical products and is used in many
commercial cleaning products.
Although common in nature and in wide use, ammonia is both caustic
and hazardous in its concentrated form. It is classified as an extremely
hazardous substance in India, and is subject to strict reporting
requirements by facilities which produce, store, or use it in significant
quantities.
NH3 boils at −33.34 °C (−28.012 °F) at a pressure of one atmosphere,
so the liquid must be stored under pressure or at low temperature.
Household ammonia or ammonium hydroxide is a solution of NH3 in
water.
 Industrial Applications

 Fertilizer

 Precursor to nitrogenous compounds

 Fermentation

 Antimicrobial agent for food products

 For remediation of gaseous emissions

 As a fuel

 As a stimulant

 Textile

 Lifting gas

 Woodworking

 Energy carrier
 Fertilizer

 Globally, approximately 88% (as of 2014) of ammonia is

used as fertilizers either as its salts, solutions or
anhydrously.

 When applied to soil, it helps provide increased yields of

crops such as maize and wheat.
Precursor to nitrogenous compounds

 Ammonia is directly or indirectly the precursor to most

nitrogen-containing compounds.

 Virtually all synthetic nitrogen compounds are derived from

ammonia. An important derivative is nitric acid.

 This key material is generated via the Ostwald process by

oxidation of ammonia with air over a platinum catalyst at 700–
850 °C (1,292–1,562 °F), ~9 atm.

 Nitric oxide is an intermediate in this conversion.

 NH3 + 2 O2 → HNO3 + H2O

 Nitric acid is used for the production of fertilizers, explosives,
and many organonitrogen compounds.

Fermentation

 Solutions of ammonia ranging from 16% to 25% are used

in the fermentation industry as a source of nitrogen for
microorganisms and to adjust pH during fermentation.
 Antimicrobial agent for food products

As early as in 1895, it was known that ammonia was "strongly

antiseptic .

It requires 1.4 grams per litre to preserve beef tea.

In one study, anhydrous ammonia destroyed 99.999% of zoonotic

bacteria in 3 types of animal feed.

Anhydrous ammonia is currently used commercially to reduce or

eliminate microbial contamination of beef. Lean finely textured beef
in the beef industry is made from fatty beef trimmings by removing
the fat using heat and centrifugation, then treating it with ammonia to
kill E. coli.

The process was deemed effective and safe by the US Department of

Agriculture based on a study that found that the treatment reduces E.
coli to undetectable levels.

There have been safety concerns about the process as well as

consumer complaints about the taste and smell of beef treated at
optimal levels of ammonia.

The level of ammonia in any final product has not come close to
toxic levels to humans.
For Remediation Of Gaseous Emissions

 Ammonia is used to scrub SO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, and
the resulting product is converted to ammonium sulfate for use as
fertilizer.

 Ammonia neutralizes the nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollutants emitted

by diesel engines. This technology, called SCR (selective catalytic
reduction), relies on a vanadium-based catalyst.
Ammonia may be used to mitigate gaseous spills of phosgene.
 As A Fuel

The raw energy density of liquid ammonia is 11.5 MJ/L which is

about a third that of diesel. Although it can be used as a fuel, for a
number of reasons this has never been common or widespread. In
addition to direct utilization of ammonia as a fuel in combustion
engines, there is also the opportunity to convert ammonia back to
hydrogen, where it can be used to power hydrogen fuel cells or
directly within high-temperature fuel cells.

Rocket engines have also been fueled by ammonia. The Reaction

Motors XLR99 rocket engine that powered the X-15 hypersonic
research aircraft used liquid ammonia. Although not as powerful as
other fuels, it left no soot in the reusable rocket engine, and its density
approximately matches the density of the oxidizer, liquid oxygen,
which simplified the aircraft's design.
 As A Stimulant

Ammonia, as the vapor released by smelling salts, has found

significant use as a respiratory stimulant. Ammonia is commonly used
in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine through a Birch
reduction.

The Birch method of making methamphetamine is dangerous because

the alkali metal and liquid ammonia are both extremely reactive, and
the temperature of liquid ammonia makes it susceptible to explosive
boiling when reactants are added.
 Textile

Liquid ammonia is used for treatment of cotton materials, giving

properties like mercerization, using alkalis. In particular, it is used for
prewashing of wool.
 Lifting gas

At standard temperature and pressure, ammonia is less dense than

atmosphere and has approximately 45-48% of the lifting power of
hydrogen or helium.

Ammonia has sometimes been used to fill weather balloons as a

lifting gas.

Because of its relatively high boiling point (compared to helium and

hydrogen), ammonia could potentially be refrigerated and liquefied
aboard an airship to reduce lift and add ballast (and returned to a gas
to add lift and reduce ballast).
 Woodworking

Ammonia has been used to darken quarter sawn white oak in Arts &
Crafts and Mission-style furniture.

Ammonia fumes react with the natural tannins in the wood and cause
it to change colors.
 Energy carrier

Ammonia can be manufactured from solar energy, air and water. This
is an efficient way to package hydrogen into a chemical that is much
cheaper to store and transport than pure hydrogen be it as gas or as
liquid. In fact, per volume ammonia holds more hydrogen than does
liquid hydrogen. Ammonia may be the key to overcome not only the
daily but also the seasonal fluctuations of renewable energy sources.

This approach will solve many of the problems foreseen for the
proposed Hydrogen economy, that instead could be replaced by an
Ammonia economy, essentially still a hydrogen economy.

In early August 2018, scientists from Australia’s Commonwealth

Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) announced
the success of developing a process to release hydrogen from
ammonia and harvest that at ultra-high purity as a fuel for cars. This
uses a special membrane. Two demonstration fuel cell vehicles have
the technology, a Hyundai Nexo and Toyota Mirai.