Brief Overview

Ammonia (NH₃) is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen. As a colorless pungent gas, it is highly soluble in water to become the liquid ammonia. It is also one of the most abundant nitrogen-containing compounds in the atmosphere. Low concentration of ammonia has no significant effect on human beings. However, exposure to high concentration of gaseous ammonia can result in lung damage and even death, thus protective measures should be taken during the operation.

Manufacturing Process

There are several ways of manufacturing liquid ammonia:

Method 1: Presently, ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process which involve industrial hydrogen reacting with atmospheric nitrogen under high temperature and pressure in the presence of catalyst.

Method 2: For small-scale lab synthesis, ammonia can also be manufactured through the heating of urea and Ca(OH)₂ together.

Agriculture Industry: Widely used as fertilizers to promote the growth of crops

Pharmaceutical Industry: It serves as a building blocks of many kinds of commercially important nitrogen compounds as well as pharmaceutical products.

Textile Industry: Used in the manufacturing of nylon and rayon, dyeing and scouring of cotton and silk.

Other Applications:

• Used as cleaner and antimicrobial reagent in food.
• Uses in various metallurgical processes and fermentation processes
• Used in the manufacture of commercial explosive such as TNT.