Editing Haber process (section)

{{Short description|Industrial process for ammonia production}}
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[[File:Fritz Haber.png|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Fritz Haber]], 1918]]
The '''Haber process''',<ref>{{Cite book |title=Habers process chemistry |publisher=Arihant publications |year=2018 |isbn=978-93-131-6303-9 |location=India |pages=264}}</ref> also called the '''Haber–Bosch process''', is the main industrial procedure for the [[ammonia production|production of ammonia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Appl |first=M. |title=A Century of Chemical Engineering |publisher=Plenum Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-306-40895-3 |location=New York |pages=29–54 |chapter=The Haber–Bosch Process and the Development of Chemical Engineering}}</ref><ref name="Appl">{{Ullmann |first=Max |last=Appl |title=Ammonia |doi=10.1002/14356007.a02_143.pub2 |year=2006}}</ref> It converts atmospheric [[nitrogen]] (N<sub>2</sub>) to [[ammonia]] (NH<sub>3</sub>) by a reaction with [[hydrogen]] (H<sub>2</sub>) using finely divided [[iron]] metal as a catalyst:

<math chem="">\ce{N2 + 3H2 <=> 2NH3} \qquad {\Delta H^\circ_\mathrm{298~K} = -92.28~\text{kJ per mole of }\ce{N2}}</math>

This reaction is [[exothermic]] but disfavored in terms of [[entropy]] because four equivalents of reactant gases are converted into two equivalents of product gas. As a result, high pressures and temperatures that are not too high are needed to [[Le_Chatelier's_principle|drive the reaction forward]]. 

The German chemists [[Fritz Haber]] and [[Carl Bosch]] developed the process in the first decade of the 20th century, and its improved efficiency over existing methods such as the [[Birkeland–Eyde process|Birkeland-Eyde]] and [[Frank–Caro process|Frank-Caro]] processes was a major advancement in the industrial production of ammonia.<ref name="Smil_2004_Enriching">{{Cite book |last=Smil |first=Vaclav |title=Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production |date=2004 |publisher=MIT |isbn=978-0-262-69313-4 |edition=1st |location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref><ref name="hager">{{Cite book |last=Hager |first=Thomas |title=The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish genius, a doomed tycoon, and the scientific discovery that fed the world but fueled the rise of Hitler |date=2008 |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=978-0-307-35178-4 |edition=1st |location=New York, New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sittig |first=Marshall |title=Fertilizer Industry: Processes, Pollution Control, and Energy Conservation |date=1979 |publisher=Noyes Data Corp. |isbn=978-0-8155-0734-5 |location=Park Ridge, New Jersey}}</ref>

The Haber process can be combined with [[steam reforming]] to produce ammonia with just three chemical inputs: water, [[natural gas]], and atmospheric nitrogen. Both Haber and Bosch were eventually awarded the [[List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Chemistry|Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]: Haber in 1918 for ammonia synthesis specifically, and Bosch in 1931 for related contributions to [[high-pressure chemistry]].