Economic Production of Ammonia

By
V. ARAVAMUTHAN1
Retired Deputy Director
Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, India

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Published by:
M/s Catalyst Management Services Private Limited, India (http://www.cms.org.in)
March 2015

ISBN No: 984-81-908417-6-4

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The author Mr. V. Aravamuthan, aged 95, has been contributing articles for the advancement of Science and Technology for over seven
decades (since 8 March 1943). Mr. Aravamuthan can be contacted at the following address - Flat No 7, II Floor, AKM Nest, Jawaharlal
Nehru Street, T. Nagar, Chennai- 600 017, India. E Mail: sampuviji@gmail.com; Phone No: +91 44- 28140082.

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In this article, an idea on economic production of Ammonia is given. Attempt has been made to provide
these ideas in simple manner to understand easily. The author, at his age of ninety five, is interested
only to see that the said views reach many in different walks of life and put in to action as appropriate.
The Idea
Even more than four decades earlier, it was reported that agricultural wastes can be used in the
production of cellulose lignin and pentose.
The biomass waste cut in to proper sizes and digested employing poly phenols in a cyclic process in the
presence of water at 100 deg. C, filtered hot when pure cellulose is left behind as a residue. On cooling,
polyphenol separate out and is reused in the process. In fact, more polyphenol is produced than
originally used. Then lignin separates out and pentose is present in the solution. The yields of cellulose
and pentose vary from 90-95%. It is a low cost process. The equipment used are of low cost. Energy
requirements are low. The process can be used commercially on a large scale or a small scale.
I feel simple bacterial treated cellulose thus obtained can be used as a very cheap, abundant, nutritious
easily digestible and palatable cows feed substituting costly grains (like maize, barley and bajra) along
with proper amounts of glyricidia leaves, hybrid napier grass or guinea grass azolla and with proper
amounts of inorganic salts to increase considerable yields of good quality cows milk.
The cows refuse is subjected to anerobic digestion to get biogas leaving behind the sludge for use as a
valuable fertilizer.
Pentose finds use as such, especially in the production of furfural.
I feel the lignin can be used as a low cost source of ash free carbon in the production of ammonia.
A mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium cyanide can be obtained by reacting sodium carbonate in a
cyclic process with fresh amounts of ash free carbon at about 1000 degree C in a current of Nitrogen
utilizing externally heated iron retorts as reaction vessels at ordinary pressure. Suitable amounts of
sodium carbonate and lignin are heated in the iron retorts out of contact with air to get active carbon
uniformly deposited on sodium carbonate and then raised to 950 degree C and above and nitrogen
passed into retorts. The iron retorts itself acts as a catalyst to get mixture of sodium carbonate and
sodium cyanide. A large volume of carbon monoxide is a co product.
This mixture is reacted with steam when ammonia is expelled leaving behind a mixture of sodium
carbonate and sodium formate. This mixture is heated out of contact with air when hydrogen (a valuable
co product) is expelled leaving behind sodium oxalate. The sodium oxalate is heated out of contact with
air to get back sodium carbonate for reuse in the process along with make up sodium carbonate. Carbon
monoxide is expelled.
The heat requirements in the said steps are met with by combusting carbon monoxide co products in
sodium carbonate sodium cyanide mixtures and in heating sodium oxalate to get sodium carbonate in
low cost oxygen in compact units. The concentrated carbon di oxide is reacted with water to get
carbonic acid which is then sent deep in to the earth employing tree robot; a well established procedure.
Thus the pollution due to carbon dioxide is eliminated.
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This method of producing ammonia eliminates the use of

1. Hydrogen as raw material
2. High Pressures and
3. Catalysts
This procedure to get ammonia can advantageously employed in several places especiously in villages
for use at site.
In my earlier article ACHIEVING TOPMOST RECORD IN INDUSTRIALISATION I pointed out
that low cost oxygen and low cost Nitrogen can be obtained from air freed from moisture carbon di
oxide, sulphurdioxide and hydrogen sulphide employing carbon molecular sieves, in a low energy
consuming pressure swing adsorption process. The use of low cost oxygen and nitrogen in the
production of nitric acid by subjecting suitable volumes of nitrogen, oxygen mixtures to silent discharge
of electricity without sparks to get nitrogen pentoxide, which is then dissolved in water to get nitric acid
economically as it eliminates the use of costly ammonia in nitric acid production.
In the present article, the use of low cost nitrogen obtained as indicated above is employed economically
in ammonia production and low cost oxygen for supplying the heat requirements by combusting carbon
monoxide co product with oxygen in compact units.

The author can be contacted at the following address:

Flat No 7, II Floor, AKM Nest, Jawaharlal Nehru Street, T. Nagar, Chennai- 600 017, India
E Mail: sampuviji@gmail.com; Phone No: +91 44- 28140082

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