7.4 Haber Process:
Ammonia NH3 is commercially produced by the Haber process.
Ammonia can be liquefied and its Boiling point is - 33.35C . It can be solidified as white ice crystals. Most of the commercial ammonia is prepared by fixing atmospheric nitrogen.
Sources of reactants: Hydrogen is obtained by the decomposition of methane and nitrogen is obtained from air.
Optimum Condition for Haber process
i) Concentration of Reactant: A mixture of 1 volume of nitrogen and 3 volume of hydrogen.
ii) Catalytic Chamber: These two gases are compressed to 200 - 500 atm. pressure by special pumps injected into the heated reaction vessel and then passed over a catalyst consisting of a mixture of Fe / Mo (Molybdenum) at 450C