Sources of raw materials for ammonia synthesis
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This post was last edited by *aodouzi on 2015-6-18 14:36. In the ammonia synthesis process, which raw material – natural gas or coal – is more commonly used, and which approach is more advanced?
Coal is used more as a raw material; of course, natural gas is cleaner
Due to its abundant coal reserves, our country relies mainly on coal chemical industry
This post was last edited by *aodouzi on 2015-6-18 at 14:36. Ammonia synthesis is the main source of nitrogen fertilizers in China. In the early days, due to relatively underdeveloped gasification technologies and simple equipment, intermittent Ruhr process furnaces were mostly used for gasification; later, continuous Ruhr process furnaces were adopted. With the widespread exploitation of natural gas, using it for ammonia synthesis allowed for reduced investment in equipment, so gas-based ammonia synthesis came into use. In recent years, gasification technologies have become quite mature, prompting many companies to invest in new gasification methods in order to reduce the energy required for ammonia synthesis – the main reason for this being the high cost of natural gas.
Coal prices are currently high, and gas production causes severe pollution; it is trending toward being replaced. The situation with natural gas isn’t very clear
In other cases, **natural gas is the main source, with only a small amount of oil or even heavy oil used. In China, since the proven reserves of natural gas account for only 1.3% of the world’s total reserves, coal is used as the primary raw material – including coker gas produced during the coking process – and it accounts for 76% of all synthetic ammonia production. Moreover, as natural gas prices continue to rise, this ratio will keep increasing. As for those that use heavy oil and residue as raw materials, there are only a few.
In terms of the advancement of the technology, it’s actually not possible to conduct a side-by-side comparison: Generally speaking, the natural gas route is undoubtedly more in line with the mainstream definition – natural gas has a low sulfur content and a low proportion of carbon compounds, resulting in lower overall carbon emissions. Secondly, the use of sulfur-resistant conversion processes leads to lower energy consumption. Thirdly, there are almost no emissions of waste residues. If we go into more detail, we would need to consider five main aspects: gas production, conversion, purification of feed gas, synthesis, and compressors – and that would be too extensive to cover here in detail.
If the original poster has time, they can take a look at \"Syngas Process Technology and Design Conditions\" shared at http://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-1407540-1-1.html.