Synthetic ammonia (NH3) refers to ammonia that has been synthesised (Standard Industrial Classification 2873) from natural gas. Natural gas molecules are reduced to carbon and hydrogen. The hydrogen is then purified and reacted with nitrogen to produce ammonia. Approximately 75 percent of the ammonia produced is used as fertilizer, either directly as ammonia or indirectly after synthesis as urea, ammonium nitrate, and monoammonium or diammonium phosphates. The remainder is used as raw material in the manufacture of polymeric resins, explosives, nitric acid, and other products. At Siyinqaba Petrochemicals where you are practicing as a Chemical Engineering Technologist, anhydrous ammonia is synthesised by reacting hydrogen with nitrogen at a molar ratio of 3:1, then compressing the gas and cooling it to -33°C. Nitrogen is obtained from air, while hydrogen is obtained from the catalytic steam reforming of natural gas, methane (CH4). Six process steps are required to produce synthetic ammonia using the catalytic steam reforming method: (1) natural gas desulfurisation, (2) catalytic steam reforming, (3) carbon monoxide (CO) shift, (4) carbon dioxide (CO2) removal using monoethanolamine solution as the absorbent, (5) methanation, and (6) ammonia synthesis. The first, third, fourth, and fifth steps remove impurities such as sulfur, CO, CO2 and water (H2O) from the feedstock i.e., hydrogen, and synthesis gas streams. In the second step, hydrogen is manufactured, and nitrogen (air) is introduced into this two-stage process. The sixth step produces anhydrous ammonia from synthetic gas. While all ammonia plants use this basic process, details such as operating pressures, temperatures, and quantities of feedstock vary from plant to plant.

present a thorough background information pertaining to the investigation e.g., define the reaction and the reacting species giving clear background why the approach you used is relevant