What is the Haber-Bosch Process?
Sometimes called the most important technological advance of this century, the Haber-Bosch process allows the economical mass synthesis of ammonia (NH3) from nitrogen and hydrogen. It was developed immediately prior to World War I by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, German chemists. Haber won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1918 for his discoveries, while Bosch shared a Nobel Prize with Friedrich Bergius in 1931 for his work on high-pressure chemical reactions. At first a German national secret, the chemistry and techniques behind the effective synthesis of ammonia spread to the rest of the world in the 20s and 30s. Ammonia is important because it is the primary ingredient in artificial fertilizers, without which modern-day agricultural yields would be impossible. Sometimes called the “Haber Ammonia process”, the Haber-Bosch process was the first industrial chemical process to make use of extremely high pressures (200 to 400 atmospheres). In addition to high pressures, high temperatures (7
– Why is ammonia so important? – Other useful information. A brief insight into the chemistry of ammonia: Ammonia has a triangular pyramidal geometry, and boiling points of 77.7*C and 33.5*C. In its pure form ammonia was prepared in 1774 by Joseph Priestly, and its composition was determined in 1785 by Claude-Louis Berthollet. Ammonia has a chemical formula of NH3, and is sp3 hybridised. Ammonia is highly polarised, due to the electronegativity of nitrogen, and as a result, has a large dipole moment. Ammonias polarisation allows it to dissociate in water forming hydroxide and ammonium ions: NH3 (aq) + H2O (l) NH4 (aq) + OH (aq) Ammonia solutions are basic, due to the hydroxide ions formed in solution. Ammonia is commercially produced by the Haber-Bosch process, which is also sometimes referred to as the Haber-Ammonia Process or Synthetic Ammonia Process. Fritz Haber, the German physical chemist, created the process in 1909, and it was further developed by Carl Bosch to make it economic
