HABER-BOSCH PROCESS

or Haber ammonia process or synthetic ammonia process

First economically feasible method of directly synthesizing ammonia from hydrogen gas and atmospheric nitrogen .

It was developed 0441; 1909 by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch (1874–1940), prompted by rapidly increasing demand for nitrogen fertilizer. It was the first industrial process to use high pressure (200–400 atmospheres) for a chemical reaction. A catalyst (usually iron ) lets it take place at a moderate temperature (750–1,200 °F [400–650 °C]), and immediate removal of ammonia as it is formed favours formation of more of it. Still the cheapest means of industrial nitrogen fixation , it is a basic process of the chemical industry.