Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Collins and I'm going to be taking you through the learning today.

This lesson forms part of the unit industrial chemistry and is called industrial equilibria: the Haber process.

During today's lesson, you will describe the Haber process for the production of ammonia, explain the significance of equilibrium in this industrial process and describe the conditions used.

Here are the key words for today's lesson, natural gas, feedstock, raw material and Haber process.

Pause the video here, read through those descriptions and record anything you feel you need to.

Today's lesson will be divided into two parts, an introduction to the Haber process and practical applications and environmental impact of the process.

So let's start with the first part, an introduction to the Haber process.

Fritz Haber was a German chemist who developed a process for producing ammonia in the early 20th century.

His work was motivated by the need to produce fertilisers and explosives.

Haber received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1918 for this discovery.

Carl Bosch was a German engineer who scaled up Haber's laboratory process to industrial levels.

He developed high-pressure techniques and large-scale equipment making, mass production possible.

Bosch shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1931 for his work in high-pressure chemistry.

The Haber-Bosch process addressed world hunger and enabled mass production of explosives during World War I.

Fritz Haber also developed poisonous gases for chemical warfare in World War I.

His scientific contributions are overshadowed by his role in military applications, leading to a controversial legacy.

Here's a question based on that learning.

For what reason did Fritz Haber receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1918? Pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, he received the Nobel Prize for his development of the Haber process.

Here's a true or false question based on that learning.

The Haber-Bosch process caused world hunger and enabled mass production of explosives during World War I.

Is this true or false? And justify your answer using the statements underneath.

Pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is false.

The Haber-Bosch process addressed world hunger by enabling the production of fertilisers.

So it's careful with the wording there.

It addressed the world hunger.

It didn't cause world hunger.

So well done if you got that correct.

The balanced equation for the Haber process is one mole of nitrogen and three moles of hydrogen, forming two moles of ammonia.

And you can see that underneath using the model there.

So the nitrogen has got two atoms of nitrogen there forming molecule.

There are three molecules of hydrogen, each one containing two atoms of hydrogen.

And then there are two molecules of ammonia.

And you can see that each ammonia molecule contains one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms. That's very clear in that diagram.

This reaction is reversible.

We can tell that because it has the double-headed arrow in the centre and forms equilibrium between the reactants and the products.

And you'll remember that from previous learning.

The raw materials for this process are both gases and whilst nitrogen can be collected from the air, hydrogen is not easy to source.

Usually the feedstock, that's what we start the process off with, is methane and that's currently the most common source of hydrogen that's used in this process.

Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is used because it's abundant currently and it's cost effective i.

e.

it doesn't use roots like electrolysis 'cause you can get hydrogen from water, but it involves electrolysis, which is quite energy intensive as are other methods for obtaining hydrogen.

So here's a question based on that learning.

What is the balanced equation for the Haber process? So have a look through those equations, decide which one is the correct balanced equation for this process.

Pause the video here, I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is C.

So we've got one mole of nitrogen reacting with three moles of hydrogen to form two moles of ammonia.

Well done if you got that correct.

Here we have a true or false question based on that learning.

So natural gas has to be used as it's the only source of hydrogen.

Is that true or false? And justify your answer using one of the statements below.

So pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is false.

Other methods exist but aren't used as they tend to be more expensive.

So well done if got that correct.

Hydrogen is produced by reacting natural gas with steam.

And there we have the chemical equation for that reaction.

Remember, steam is water in a gaseous form.

So that's H2O with h in brackets, carbon monoxide can be further reacted with steam to produce more hydrogen as shown by that second reaction there.

This process is energy intensive and produces approximately 2% of the global carbon dioxide emissions.

Remember that's a problem because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and it's helping to contribute to climate change.

The conditions for the Haber process are 450 degrees Celsius, 200 atmospheres and the of an iron catalyst.

Now remember, catalysts speed up chemical reactions without being used up in the overall chemical reaction.

And they do this by providing an alternative pathway with a lower activation energy.

So during this process the ammonia is cooled and condensed and collected regularly from the process.

And this pushes the equilibrium towards more ammonia production and it maximises the yield.

So the more ammonia you remove from the reaction, the more ammonia is produced during the reaction.

So it forces the reaction in the forward direction.

High temperature and pressure increase the rate of the reaction.

So that's the speed the reactions taking place, but they can also affect the yield as well.

And what we need to do is optimise the conditions for maximising the yield while minimising the costs and the environmental impact.

So that's the setup there in the diagram that Fritz Haber used to create ammonia for the first time.

So here's a question about that learning so far.

Warming and evaporating ammonia pushes the equilibrium towards ammonia production.

Is this true or false? So pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is false and that's because cooling and condensing ammonia pushes the equilibrium towards more ammonia production.

So well done if you got that correct? What are the optimal conditions for the Haber process in terms of temperature and pressure? So pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is 450 degrees Celsius and 200 atmospheres.

So well done if you've got that correct.

Now we're going to move on to task A.

And what I'd like you to do is fill in the blanks using the words and phrases from the table.

So there's some numbers in there as well.

So pause the video here, use those words to fill in the blanks, and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so let's have a look at the answers to that question then.

So in a reversible reaction, the desired product needs to be continuously removed from the reaction.

Natural gas is a feedstock for industrial production of ammonia.

Hydrogen one of the raw materials in ammonia production is produced from reacting natural gas with steam.

In industry, the Haber process is typically performed at 200 atmospheres, 450 degrees Celsius and with an iron catalyst.

So well done if you got that correct.

So let's move on to part two of the lesson then.

Practical applications and environmental impact.

Ammonia, as we've mentioned, is crucial for the production of fertilisers and these support global agriculture.

It's also used in the manufacturer of explosives, pharmaceuticals, textiles and cleaning products.

Ammonia production is a major industrial process with significant economic implications.

The global ammonia market was valued over at 50 billion pounds in 2020 and is projected to reach 80 billion by 2027.

So that's a hugely important industry internationally.

And you've got a graph there showing ammonia production in million metric tonnes per year, which is the blue line and global human population in the billions.

And you can see the importance there of ammonia.

As the population has increased, the ammonia production is increased hugely year on year up to 2010.

So here's a question based on that learning.

Why is ammonia production considered a major industrial process? So pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer is B, it has significant economic implications.

So well done if you got that correct.

Here's a second question based on that learning, ammonia is used in the manufacture of, so have a look at the answers to that question.

Decide which correct.

Pause the video here.

I'll see you when you finished.

Welcome back, and you should have recognised that it's a bit of a trick question because all of those substances are produced using ammonia.

So well done if you got that correct.

As we mentioned earlier, ammonia production involves high energy consumption and about 1% to 2% of the world's energy supply is dedicated to producing ammonia and that is huge.

But it also has significant greenhouse gas emissions.

So for every metric tonne of ammonia produced, 1.

8 tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted.

And we know carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.

And we can see there per sector the annual world greenhouse gas emissions back in 2005.

So short-term solutions include making blue ammonia, and this involves carbon capture of the emissions from hydrogen production.

So it's the hydrogen production that is the issue, is producing a lot of carbon dioxide.

So we need to consider this for the future.

Green ammonia production is where the process of making ammonia is a hundred percent renewable and it's carbon free and is produced by using hydrogen from water electrolysis.

Nitrogen is separated from the air and both are powered by sustainable electricity.

So that's renewable energy.

So this is extracting hydrogen from water rather than from methane.

And that means we don't use natural gas, which is a finite resource, remember it's running out.

And even though it's quite energy intensive, it doesn't produce carbon dioxide.

So it's considered green ammonia.

Ammonia can be easily stored in bulk as a liquid at modest pressures.

That's 10 atmospheres or refrigerated to minus 33 degrees Celsius.

And this makes it an ideal chemical store for renewable energy.

Ammonia can be burned in an engine or used in a fuel cell to produce electricity.

The only products are water and nitrogen.

So here's a question based on that learning.

True or false, ammonia production does not significantly contribute to global carbon dioxide emissions, is that true or false? And justify your answer using the statements below.

Pause the video here, answer the question and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer is of course, false.

Ammonia production releases approximately 1.

8 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of ammonia produced.

So well done if you got that correct.

Here's a second question.

Select all the correct statements about ammonia production.

So pause the video here, answer the question, and I'll see you when you're finished.

Welcome back, so the answer to that question is B, it significantly contributes to global energy consumption.

So well done if you got that correct.

So let's have a look at task B.

So some students are discussing the Haber process.

Identify who is correct and update any incorrect statements.

So pause the video here, read the different statements and decide which are correct.

And for those that are incorrect, change the statements so they're true.

So pause the video here, answer the question, and I'll be with you in a moment.

Welcome back, so let's go through each statement one at a time.

So Andeep has said, "Hydrogen for ammonia production is mostly extracted from water using electrolysis." Actually hydrogen from ammonia production is primarily produced from reacting natural gas with steam at the moment.

So that is an incorrect statement and it has been corrected there.

Lucas says, "Ammonia production is not very energy intensive and does not really contribute to global CO2 emissions." We know that is incorrect.

Ammonia production is very energy intensive and significantly con contributes to global CO2 and emissions.

So it is a problem area we need to sort out.

Sofia says, "Ammonia production is a major industrial process, crucial for making fertilisers and cleaning products." Which is correct.

And Laura says, "Blue and green ammonia are fantasy ideas about sustainable industrial processes." Blue and green ammonia are emerging technologies aimed at creating more sustainable industrial processes.

So remember, green ammonia is the one that's produced using renewable sources from water.

And blue ammonia is where we produce it using the traditional approach, but we capture the carbon dioxide that's produced rather than releasing it to the environment.

So well done if you've got that correct.

Here is a summary of this lesson.

In a reversible reaction, the desired project needs to be continuously removed from the reaction.

Natural gas is a feedstock for industrial production of ammonia.

Hydrogen, one of the raw materials in ammonia production is produced from natural gas and steam.

In industry, the Haber process is typically performed at 200 atmospheres, 450 degrees Celsius, and with an ion catalyst.

Ammonia production is energy intensive and releases large amounts of carbon dioxide contributing to global emissions.

So thank you very much for joining me for today's lesson.