The Haber Process :: essays research papers

1. The Haber exhibitDuring the first decade of the twentieth century the world-wide charter for ammonia for occasion in fertilisers (in the form of nitrates) and in the point of intersectionion of explosives for use in mining and warfare could only be satisfied on a large scale from readys of guano in Chile (2). Though this deposit was of huge size (approximately five feet thick and 385 kilometres long) it represented a promptly depleting resource when compared to world-wide demand. As a result of this there was much research into how ammonia could be produced from atmospherical nitrogen. The problem was eventually solved by Fritz Haber (1868 - 1934) in a process which came to be known as the "Haber Process" or the "Haber - Bosch Process".Haber developed a method for synthesising ammonia utilising atmospheric nitrogen and had established the conditions for large scale synthesis of ammonia by 1909 and the process was handed over to Carl Bosch for industrial dev elopment (1). the reception is a simple equilibrium reaction which occurs in fuck upeous state as followsN2 (g) + 3H2 (g) = 2NH3 (g) heat of enthalpy = -92.6 kJ/molIn predicting how to obtain the highest yield from this reaction we must refer to Le Chatliers Principle. This states that for an equilibrium reaction the equilibrium will work in the opposite direction to the conditions forced upon it. The conditions most liable(p) to the above reaction are temperature and pressure.The pressure exerted by any gas or mixture of gasses in an enclosed space is directly proportionate to the enumerate of atoms or molecules of gas regardless of their size or molecular(a) mass. Reference to the above reaction shows that, as the reaction moves to the even out the number of molecules and hence the pressure decreases. Therefore the reaction moving to the right (i.e. towards the product required) is favoured by an increase in pressure.With regard to temperature, the reaction moving to the rig ht is exothermic i.e. it gives off energy (in the form of heat). Therefore reference to Le Chatliers Principle shows that the reaction to the right is favoured by low temperatures.However, when Haber placed the reactants in concert under these conditions it was shown that the rate of reaction was so slow as to fork up the process unfeasible as an industrial process. This is because of an unusually high activation energy.The activation energy of a reaction is the energy required by the reactants to achieve an intermediate state required before they form the products.