Chemical Exergy Analysis on Ammonia Synthesis Reaction

The chemical exergy analysis method is based on the second law of thermodynamics.
The method is introduced to the study of process design of chemical processes
optimization. In this work, chemical exergy is used as a basis to assess reversible
reactions. Ammonia synthesis reaction is selected as case study.
Chemical exergy analysis is applied to estimate the effect of the process parameters,
which are operating pressure and temperature, on the trend of ammonia reaction
conversion. The proposed method used for the study is based on Gibbs free energy and
the calculation of chemical equilibrium. This study aims to be able to identify the
optimal value of process conditions for armnonia production. The main objective of this
research is to identify the optimal operating condition that gives the highest armnonia
reaction conversion. The finding will provide information to improvement operation
performance of an indusnial armnonia production.
The exergy analysis result in this research shows that at 500 degree Celsius, which is the
typical operating temperature used in indust1ial production, the ammonia yield tends to
arise in a very small amount. This is resulting from the minimum reaction driving force
or minimum work available for the reaction to take place in the respective temperature