Petrochemical Industry Ammonia Plant - Application Note

Ammonia is used in a variety of applications in the petrochemical industry. It can be used as a fertilizer or it can be reacted with other compounds to form fertilizers, nitric acid, explosives and synthetic fibers. It is also used as a refrigerant in large cooling systems.

The ammonia plant starts with methane and/or other light hydrocarbons that is treated to remove any trace sulfur compounds. This treated feed stream is reacted with steam within catalyst-filled tubes of the primary reformer, according to the reaction:

CH4 + H2O3H2 + CO (1)

The effluent stream (the desired product being hydrogen) is mixed with air and passed through the secondary reformer where unreacted natural gas is converted again by reaction (1). The nitrogen required for the ammonia synthesis is supplied by the air inlet but first, any trace CO and CO2 must be removed.