Ammonia Synthesis for the Production of Fertilizer

Ollerhead, Andrew Thomas

Student Work

Ammonia Synthesis for the Production of Fertilizer

Public

This paper goes through the history of the ammonia industry and its use as a nitrogen rich fertilizer. Current ammonia production was analyzed economically and environmentally, and the specs from modern plants were compared with the patented process detailed in Chapter 3. An economic comparison shows a five year breakeven point for a current medium-scale ammonia plant with a production cost of $600/ton, while the patented process plant can break even in under two years at a production cost of $232/ton. An environmental comparison found that the patented process, if scaled globally, would eliminate 7% of the planet’s total CO2 emissions. Data from experiments and calculations were used to recommend further research into the optimization of industrial nitrogenous fertilizer production.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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