Manufacture of Ammonia

The demands for synthetic ammonia in the United Kingdom and in the world have almost doubled in the last ten years and they will double again in the next. Developments in the processes of ammonia manufacture have been rapid in recent years and many of the older plants throughout the world will have to be replaced. Plants based on coal can no longer compete with those based on hydrocarbons and the economic size of plants has been greatly increased. For these reasons the ICI has had to rebuild its synthetic ammonia facilities at Billingham, close small units at other factories and construct several large new ones. This paper is a survey of some of these changes from the Billingham point of view.

P W Reynolds, Research and Development Director, Agricultural Division, Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, UK.

27 pages, 15 figures.