What is the effect of equilibrium on the Haber Bosch process?

Answer 1

The temperature of the reaction affects two things in the synthesis of ammonia: the reaction rate and the equilibrium constant.

At room temperature, the reaction does not proceed at a reasonable rate. This is because the activation energy (the energy barrier that the reactants must pass over to go to products) is quite high. By increasing the temperature, the rate of the reaction is greatly increased. Therefore, in this respect, raising the temperature is a great benefit.

However, the reaction is exothermic, and so increasing the temperature affects the equilibrium of the reaction. As more heat is added, the reaction equilibrium is shifted back towards the products. This reduces the efficiency of the reaction. So from this perspective, a higher temperature is strictly a bad thing!

To use the process industrially, these two factors must be balanced. The temperature must be maintained high enough so that the reaction proceeds at a fast enough rate, but kept low enough to keep the reaction yield as high as possible. The use of catalysts also helps with this problem by effectively lowering the activation energy and reducing the need for high temperatures to keep the reaction rate high.

See the Web Links to the left for more information about the effect of temperature and pressure on the Haber Bosch process.(This is one of the most important chemical processes in the world! Approximately 1% of all of the world's energy goes into make ammonia through this process! That is A LOT of energy!!!)

so,how to calculate the rate of reaction for haber process? do we need data from experiment? As we know, rate = k[A][B] usually not depend on stoichiometry right? so how we know the form of equation of rate looks like?

Answer 2

The Haber Bosch Process (or Haber Process) is probably the most important chemical reaction in the world today. The process fixes nitrogen using nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas over an enriched iron or ruthenium catalyst, which is used to produce ammonia. It's main use is in fertilizers, color compounds and N-polymers like nylon. Approximately 1% of all of the energy used in the world today goes into making this one reaction happen!

The reaction occurring in the Haber Bosch process is in fact a very simple one: hydrogen gas (H2) and nitrogen gas (N2) are combined to form ammonia (NH3):

3H2 + N2 → 2NH3

This is typically done a high temperature and under very high pressures.

See the Web Links and Related Links below for more details about this process.

Answer 3

The equilibrium needs to be shifted as far as possible to the right in order to produce the maximum possible amount of ammonia in the equilibrium mixture