Discussion on the main process flow of synthetic ammonia
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Dear sea friends: I’ve heard recently that the process for producing synthetic ammonia in the coal chemical industry involves using pure oxygen for gasification, followed by carbon removal through shift reaction and methanation. Nitrogen is added to the system via the inlet of the hydrogen-nitrogen compressor. I’ve heard that such a production process is more energy-efficient, and the reason for this is easy to understand. However, I’m not sure whether there are any differences in management between this type of production process and traditional ones – whether the management is stricter. After all, in such a process, there is no nitrogen present in the system before compression; it’s all hydrogen, so the level of danger should be higher ； Also, what are the differences between the equipment and pipelines and those used in traditional process flows? With the above main process flow in place, I came up with another idea: could the process for producing ammonia from natural gas raw materials also use such a flow? Or is such a process already in use today? Conversion is also carried out using pure oxygen, followed by shift decarburization and methanation; nitrogen is supplied from the inlet of the hydrogen-nitrogen compressor. I’ve also heard that there is a process now known as alko-hydrogenation, which replaces the traditional methanation process. The advantage of this process is that there is no methanation system in the stage of refining the synthesis feed gas; instead, alcohols and hydrocarbons are produced under the same pressure conditions as those in the synthesis system. These alcohols and hydrocarbons are then removed through water cooling and ammonia cooling, resulting in little or no methane being generated. This helps to reduce the amount of inert methane gas in the synthesis system, and this process is said to be quite energy-efficient as well. These are some of the main processes for synthesizing ammonia that I am aware of; there may be other excellent processes as well. I hope my colleagues will share them so that we can exchange ideas and gain more knowledge.
This seems to have existed for a long time already; purification can be done using low-methane gas and liquid nitrogen
There seems to be some issue with the process described by the original poster. The process for producing synthetic ammonia from natural gas involves conversion (including primary conversion and secondary oxygen-enriched conversion, or autothermal conversion), shift reaction, decarburization, liquid nitrogen washing, and ammonia synthesis. The process for producing synthetic ammonia from coal involves coal gasification, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, liquid nitrogen washing, and ammonia synthesis.
Friend on the 3rd floor: I’m not really familiar with the processes in coal chemical industry; I only have a basic understanding of them. I mainly want to know if there is any natural gas conversion using a two-stage furnace that burns pure oxygen (traditionally, air is used for combustion); carbon dioxide is removed through shift reaction, and methanation is carried out. The nitrogen required for the synthesis system is supplied via the inlet of the hydrogen-nitrogen compressor. In this case, there is no nitrogen from the point of conversion all the way to the methanation outlet; it’s not clear whether there are any technical or managerial differences compared to traditional processes.