Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Exergy analysis of industrial ammonia synthesis

Zornitza Kirova-Yordanova

Department of Inorganic Technology, University ‘‘Prof. Assen Zlatarov’’, 1, Prof. Yakimov Str.,
8010 Bourgas, Bulgaria

Abstract

Exergy consumption of ammonia production plants depends strongly on the ammonia synthesis loop
design. Due to the thermodynamically limited low degree of conversion of hydrogen–nitrogen mixture to
ammonia, industrial ammonia synthesis is implemented as recycle process (so-called ‘‘ammonia synthesis
loop’’). Significant quantities of reactants are recycled back to reactor, after the removal of ammonia at
low temperatures. Modern ammonia synthesis plants use well-developed heat- and cold recovery to
improve the reaction heat utilisation and to reduce the refrigeration costs. In this work, the exergy
method is applied to estimate the effect of the most important process parameters on the exergy efficiency
of industrial ammonia synthesis. A specific approach, including suitable definitions of the system bound-
aries and process parameters, is proposed. Exergy efficiency indexes are discussed in order to make the
results applicable to ammonia synthesis loops of various designs. The dependence of the exergy losses on
properly selected independent process parameters is studied. Some results from detailed exergy analysis of
the most commonly used ammonia synthesis loop design configurations at a wide range of selected
parameters values are shown.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In modern ammonia plants, it takes 28–30 GJ/te [1] to produce ammonia from natural gas
by the overall reaction
natural gas þ water þ air ) 3H2 þ N2 þ CO2 ) ammonia þ CO2 (1)
The exergy consumption for ammonia production depends strongly on the ammonia synthesis
loop design.
Therefore, industrial ammonia synthesis presents one of the most attractive opportunities of
application of second law-based methods in process engineering. Since the initial works

Tel.: +359-56-858274; fax: +359-56-880249.
E-mail address: zkirova@btu.bg (Z. Kirova-Yordanova).

0360-5442/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2004.03.036
2374 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384

of Möbus [2] and Fratzscher [3], a number of papers were published on exergy analysis of
ammonia synthesis section as a part of large integrated single-train ammonia plants: Riekert [4],
Mundo [5], Cremer [6], Kirova-Yordanova [7], Fratzscher et al. [8], Trotter and Pinto [9],
Szargut et al. [10], Leites et al. [11], Kirova-Yordanova et al. [12], Brodjanskij et al. [13], Ali
et al. [14], Radgen [15], etc. In these papers, particular ammonia synthesis loop designs with cor-
responding sets of parameters are studied.

2. Problem statement, goals and approaches

Ammonia synthesis from hydrogen and nitrogen, described by the reaction

3H2 þ N2 ¼ 2NH3 (2)
is restricted by the unfavourable position of the chemical equilibrium and by the relatively low
activity of the promoted iron catalysts. In general, even at high pressures up to 30 MPa, not
more than 20–25% of the synthesis gas is converted to ammonia per pass. After the removal of
ammonia by its condensation at low temperatures, the unreacted hydrogen–nitrogen mixture is
returned to the reactor. Therefore, since its development in 1913 by Haber and Bosch, industrial
ammonia synthesis always has been implemented as a recycle process. Thus, to produce 1 kg
ammonia, 4–6 kg synthesis gas must be recycled through the reactor.
In this work, we consider a typical ammonia synthesis section (Fig. 1) of modern large
energy-integrated single-train ammonia plants. The basic components of an ammonia synthesis
loop are a catalytic reactor; a reaction heat utilisation subsystem and an ammonia condensation
subsystem.

Fig. 1. Flowsheet of typical ammonia synthesis loop.

 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384 2375

Table 1
Basic process parameters of studied ammonia synthesis loops at 30 MPa
Ammonia Ammonia Degree of Circulation ratio n, Approach to the equilibrium b
v
synthesis concentration, conversion kg gas inlet (at 30 MPa, 500 C), inlet/outlet reactor
loop no. molar % y, mol/mol reactor/kg NH3
Inlet Outlet Loops A, Loops B, Loops A, no inerts Loops B, inerts inlet
reactor reactor no inerts inerts inlet reactor: CH4 7.0%,
reactor: Ar 3.0%
CH4 7.0%,
Inlet Outlet Inlet Outlet
Ar 3.0%
1A, 1B 0.0 20.0 0.1667 3.000 3.517 0.0000 0.4332 0.0000 0.8625
2A, 2B 2.0 20.0 0.1500 3.400 3.975 0.0018 0.4332 0.0038 0.8625
3A, 3B 2.0 14.0 0.1053 4.845 5.664 0.0018 0.1589 0.0038 0.3164
4A, 4B 4.0 16.0 0.1034 5.027 5.860 0.0084 0.2281 0.0166 0.4541
5A, 5B 8.0 20.0 0.1000 5.400 6.262 0.0396 0.4332 0.0789 0.8625

The energy efficiency of an industrial ammonia synthesis process depends on two kinds of
parameters:

. Parameters defined by external systems: pressure and inerts (CH4 þAr) content of the make-
up gas, efficiencies of Rankine cycle, refrigeration plant and purge recovery.
. Internal parameters defined by the loop design: degree of conversion (or recycle ratio), reac-
tion approach to equilibrium, inerts (CH4 þAr) content in the circulating gas and reaction
heat- and cold recovery system parameters.

The aim of this work is to study the effect of the internal loop parameters on the exergy
efficiency of industrial ammonia synthesis in order to evaluate the potential for improvement of
the ammonia synthesis loop design.
We have selected 10 ammonia synthesis loops at 30 MPa in order to cover a wide range of
values for the degree of conversion, the approach to the equilibrium and the inerts content, used
contemporarily (Table 1).
The material flows going into and out of the analyzed system have to be independent from
the internal loop parameters, when mass balance is fitted, in order to estimate the effect of the
loop parameters on the exergy losses and exergy degree of perfection. To meet this requirement,
the purge and flash gas recovery cryogenic unit, as well as the re-compression of the recovered
hydrogen–nitrogen mixture have to be included in the analyzed system (Fig. 1).

3. Ammonia synthesis loop: features, constraints and main parameters

The exergy efficiency of an ammonia synthesis loop depends strongly on the degree of conver-
sion, respectively, on the recycle ratio. The higher the conversion (respectively the lower the
recycled/fresh gas ratio), the better the heat utilisation and the less the exergy consumption for
gas recycling and for ammonia condensation. However, exergy efficiency increases when the
reaction approaches equilibrium, because exergy consumption for ammonia condensation
decreases.
2376 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384

3.1. Recycle ratio, degree of conversion and approach to the equilibrium

The ratio of the recycled synthesis gas to the produced ammonia, respectively, of the recycled
to the fresh (make-up) synthesis gases
1 Mgas
n¼ (3)
y MNH3
is reciprocal to the degree of conversion of hydrogen–nitrogen mixture into ammonia
xNH3 ;out  xNH3 ;in
y¼ (4)
1 þ xNH3 ;out
The approach to equilibrium of the reaction can be defined as
x2NH3 x3eqH2 xeqN2
b¼ (5)
x3H2 xN2 x2eqNH3
In the above equations n is the ratio of recycled synthesis gas to produced ammonia, kg gas/kg
NH3; y is the degree of conversion of hydrogen–nitrogen mixture into ammonia; xNH3,in,
x
NH3,out are ammonia concentrations in recycled synthesis gas at the reactor input and output,
molar parts; Mgas, MNH3 are molar masses of synthesis gas entering the reactor and of
ammonia, respectively. xeqNH3 , xeqH2 and xeqN2 are the equilibrium molar concentrations, and
xNH3 , xH2 and xN2 are the actual molar concentrations.
The equilibrium concentrations of components in the ammonia synthesis reaction depend on
the pressure and the temperature, and, to a lesser extent, on the concentration of inerts. As cat-
v
alysts are active over the narrow temperature range of 380–500 C and unable to approach
more than 80% of the equilibrium, the maximum ammonia concentration in the recycling gas at
the reactor outlet depends in fact only on the pressure.
Actually, outlet ammonia concentration is being chosen somewhat lower in order to reduce
the catalyst volume, and the reactor costs. In most cases, the inlet and outlet ammonia concen-
trations are connected depending on the reactor design. The oldest ‘‘quench’’ and ‘‘cooling
tube’’ reactors afford a degree of conversion of no more than 10–11%. As seen in Table 1, loops
no. 3–5, different approaches to the equilibrium of ammonia synthesis may be reached (respect-
ively different outlet ammonia concentrations), depending on the inlet ammonia concentration.
Modern reactor designs with intercoolers between catalyst beds provide a degree of conver-
sion as high as 15% (Table 1, loops no. 2). With maximum outlet ammonia concentration of
20%, a degree of conversion of more than 16% may be reached only in the case of full removal
of ammonia from recycling gas mixture, e.g. by water absorption (Table 1, loops no. 1). How-
ever, water absorption is not used in industrial ammonia plants and ammonia condensation is
still the only way to separate ammonia from the unreacted gas mixture.

3.2. Ammonia condensation

The inlet ammonia concentration depends on the vapour–liquid equilibrium (VLE) in the sys-
tem NH3–N2–H2–CH4–Ar. Ammonia is the only component of this system, which might be
condensed at non-cryogenic temperatures. However, the VLE position of ammonia in the pres-
 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384 2377

ence of non-condensable gases at high pressures (8–30 MPa) is very unfavourable. The real
vapour pressure of ammonia in this system is up to twice as high as the equilibrium pressure of
pure ammonia at the same temperature. Thus the partial condensation of ammonia from the
outlet gas mixture, containing 20% ammonia at 30 MPa, begins at relatively low temperature
v
(65–70 C). To obtain an ammonia content as low as 2%, the gas mixture must be cooled down
v
to temperatures such as –20 C (253 K). Therefore, the first stage of condensation is carried out
v
in water-cooled or air-cooled condensers. But the ammonia content at temperatures 25–30 C is
still high (7–8%) and in most modern ammonia plants an ammonia refrigeration unit is used to
cool the recycling gas down to 253–283 K in order to decrease the converter inlet ammonia con-
centration down to 2–5%.
In the first stage, the ammonia condensation heat is released to the environment and some
power is consumed in the air coolers or in the cooling water system. In the second stage, cold
recovery could not be complete because the heat capacity flow rate of the warm gas, in which
the ammonia condensation occurs, is much greater than the heat capacity flow rate of the cold
gas exiting the ammonia separator (Fig. 2). In most ammonia plants, a simple vapour-com-
pression refrigeration cycle is used to reject the condensation heat at low temperatures. In this
case, all this heat is rejected from the recycle gas at the lowest temperature in the synthesis loop
and the irreversible losses are too large. If the ammonia content at the reactor inlet is given
(Table 1), the minimum temperature approaches in the cold exchanger and in the chiller are the
only independent parameters of the second-stage ammonia condensation subsystem (Fig. 2).

3.3. Heat recovery and utilisation in ammonia synthesis loop

The exergy efficiency of modern ammonia synthesis plants is improved by the use of well-
developed heat- and cold recovery. In most ammonia plants (Fig. 1), the reaction heat is utilised
at a relatively low temperature, e.g. for boiler feed water (BFW) preheating (Fig. 2). The tem-
perature approach in high temperature (HT) heat exchanger depends only on the degree of con-
v v v
version increasing from 160 to 180 in loops nos. 3–5 to 260–290 in loops nos. 2 and 1,

Fig. 2. T–H diagrams of heat and cold recovery in studied ammonia synthesis loops Left: I—cold unreacted gas; II—
hot converted gas; V—boiler feed water; P—ammonia dew point; PL—first stage partial ammonia condensation.
2378 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384
v
respectively. A small temperature approach (about 10–20 C) along the low temperature (LT)
heat exchanger is possible and then a substantial (90–95 %) part of the reaction heat could be
utilised. But the temperature level of heat utilisation is low and the exergy efficiency of the
entire heat utilisation system is small. If the degree of conversion is given (Table 1), the mini-
mum temperature approach in the low temperature heat exchanger and the hot gas BFW preheater
input temperature are the only independent parameters of heat recovery and utilisation sub-
system (Fig. 2).

4. Exergy analysis

Exergy analysis is performed of a commonly used design configuration of ammonia synthesis

loop (Fig. 1) at a wide range of selected process parameters. An example of exergy balances of
studied ammonia synthesis loops is shown in Table 2.

4.1. Calculation procedure

The exergies of the material flows are calculated as a sum of the chemical and physical exer-
gies [10]. Gaseous mixtures at high pressure are treated as real mixtures of real gases, specified
by the Redlich–Kwong equation [16,17]. The environment parameters are assumed as follows:
P0 ¼ 101; 325 Pa, T 0 ¼ 298:15 K and relative humidity 0.301.

4.2. System boundaries’ specification, exergy losses and degree of perfection

The results obtained from the exergy analysis of an ammonia synthesis loop depend strongly
on the specification of system boundaries. To obtain better results and to estimate the only
effect of internal loop parameters on the loop efficiency, the purge and flash gas recovery cryo-
genic unit is included in the analyzed system, as well as the recompression of recovered hydro-
gen–nitrogen mixture from cryogenic unit pressure to loop pressure (Fig. 1).
If we assume that in the cryogenic unit:

. the hydrogen–nitrogen mixture is completely recovered and fed back to the ammonia syn-
thesis process and
. both methane and argon are completely separated and obtained as pure substances, then liq-
uid ammonia, methane and argon would be the only material flows exiting the analyzed sys-
tem (Fig. 3).

Then both quantity and composition of make-up synthesis gas, entering the syngas com-
pressor from the natural gas reforming section would be independent from the loop parameters.
The make-up gas consumption for production of 1 kg ammonia would be equal to theoretical
(stoichiometric) quantity of hydrogen and nitrogen mixture and would depend only on the inert
content in the make-up gas (Fig. 3). Quantity and composition of material flows going into and
out of the analyzed loop are the same for all analyzed loops, named ‘‘loops A’’ (and in much
the same way for ‘‘loops B’’). Thus the total exergy losses D in each analyzed loop would
depend only on the loop parameters and could be expressed only by the exergy of energy flows,
 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384 2379

Table 2
Exergy balances of studied ammonia synthesis loops at 30 MPa

Exergy flows, MJ/t NH3 Ammonia synthesis loop no.
2A 3A 4A 5A 2B 3B 4B 5B
Input Make-up synthesis gas 22 535 22 535 22 535 22 535 23 486 23 486 23 486 23 486
exergy (30 MPa)
flows Refrigeration compressor 198 330.5 100.5 – 245 411 133 –
Circulation compressor 48 59 71.5 80 40 46 58.5 67
NH3 absorption and 23.5 15.5 45 86 43 34 62.5 121
desorption from purge
andflash gas
Cryogenic purge – – – – 189 236 212 212
separation
Recovered H2/N2 21.5 19 23 25 148 184 165 165
mixture compression
to 30 MPa
Total input exergy flows 22 826 22 959 22 775 22 726 24 151 24 397 24 117 24 051
Useful Liquid ammonia 20 340 20 340 20 340 20 340 20 340 20 340 20 340 20 340
output Liquid argon – – – – 13 13 13 13
exergy Gas methane – – – – 946 946 946 946
flows Shaft work obtained in 821 781 797 825 822 784 798 826
steam cycle by reaction
heat recovery
Total useful output 21 161 21 121 21 137 21 165 22 121 22 083 22 097 22 125
exergy flows
Exergy losses total 1665 1838 1638 1561 2030 2314 2020 1926
Inclusive internal exergy losses 1612 1804 1589 1476 1980 2283 1975 1845
Exergy degree of perfection (Eq. (9)) 0.927 0.920 0.928 0.931 0.916 0.905 0.916 0.920
Exergy degree of perfection (Eq. (10)) 0.927 0.920 0.928 0.931 0.912 0.901 0.913 0.917
Exergy degree of perfection (Eq. (11)) 0.330 0.298 0.327 0.346 0.288 0.253 0.283 0.300
Constant parameters
: make-up (fresh) synthesis gas composition: H2/N2 (molar ratio) 3:1. Inerts in make-up gas
v
(loops B) CH4 0.95%, Ar 0.35%. Minimum temperature approach in water cooler (ammonia condenser) 5 C. BFW
v v v
temperature: input 105 , output 290 C. BFW pressure 10 MPa. Cooling water temperature 25 C. Ammonia syn-
thesis loop pressure drop 1.5 MPa. Mass velocity in tubes 300 kg/s m2; in catalyst bed 15 kg/s m2. Adiabatic
efficiency: make-up syngas compressor stages: I, 0.68; II, 0.65; III, 0.63; IV, 0.60; circulation gas compressor 0.65.
Exergy efficiency: steam Rankine cycle 0.80; ammonia refrigeration unit 0.30–0.37; power for cryogenic purge gas
separation (incl. Ar, CH4 and H2 þN2 recovery), 24 600 J/mol recovered H2 þN2 ; exergy of heat for ammonia recov-
v
ery from purge and flash gases 3357 kJ/kg NH3. Variable parameters: minimum temperature approach, DTmin C :
v v v
LT heat exchanger 10 C; cold exchanger and chiller 5 C. Temperature of hot gas inlet BFW preheater 400 C.

entering and leaving the loop:

X
mþn X
pþq X
m X
n X
p X
q
D¼ Ei;in  Ej;useful;out ¼ Ei;in;mat þ Ei;in;en  Ej;out;mat  Ej;useful;out;en (6)
i¼1 j¼1 i¼1 i¼1 j¼1 j¼1

X
M X
p
Ei;in;mat  Ej;out;mat ¼ Emake-up  Eliq:NH3  EAr  ECH4 ¼ const (7)
i¼1 j¼1
2380 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384

Fig. 3. Mass balance diagram of ammonia synthesis loops ‘‘ B ‘‘ with inerts in the make-up and circulating gas.

X
n X
q
D ¼ const þ Ei;in;en  Ej;useful;out;en (8)
i¼1 j¼1

where: Emake-up is the exergy of the make-up (fresh) synthesis gas from the reforming section,
compressed to the loop pressure, Eliq:NH3 is the exergy of the produced liquid ammonia, EAr and
ECH4 are the exergies of liquid Ar and gaseous CH4, recovered from purge and flash gas in the
cryogenic unit.
Table 2 clarifies the usefulness of this approach. The exergy of the incoming and outgoing
material flows is the same for all ‘‘A’’ and ‘‘B’’type loops, respectively. This allows us to esti-
mate the only effect of the basic loop parameters, as circulation ratio, approach to equilibrium
and heat and cold recovery subsystem parameters. The detailed analysis of these effects is made
below.
This approach also provides a more realistic estimation of the exergy degree of perfection of
ammonia synthesis loops. As it is clear from Table 2, the exergies of incoming and outgoing
material flows are much larger than the exergies of the energy flows. This is the reason for the
abnormally high and very similar values of exergy degree of perfection ge of all the loops,
defined as
Ppþq
j¼1 Ej;useful;out
ge ¼ Pmþn (9)
i¼1 Ei;in

The exergy of the material flows outgoing from all the ‘‘A’’-loops is equal (it is the exergy of 1
v
metric ton liquid ammonia at 30 MPa and 30 C). This is also the case for the exergy of all the
material flows outgoing from loops ‘‘B’’ (the exergy of liquid ammonia, methane and liquid
argon).
A familiar approach in such cases is to subtract the ‘‘transit exergy’’ from both the numerator
and the denominator of the exergy degree of perfection expression. Following exactly the defi-
nition proposed from Brodjanskij [8,13], the only chemical exergy of inerts (CH4 and Ar) could
 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384 2381

be considered as ‘‘transit exergy’’ in ammonia synthesis loops

Ppþq
tr j¼1 Ej;useful;out  Etransit
ge ¼ Pmþn (10)
i¼1 Ei;in  Etransit

However, this approach is not applicable if inerts are not present in the make-up gas, what is
the case for the ‘‘A’’-loops. Even if inerts are present, it is not useful enough due to their low
content in the make-up gas (Table 2).
A very useful, but unfortunately not quite correct approach, could be applied if we consider
the exergy of the outgoing material flows as ‘‘transit exergy’’ and exclude it from the numerator
and the denominator of (9). Thus, the following expression could be stated:
Pq
0 J¼1 Ej;useful;out;en
ge ¼ P Pp  P (11)
m n
i¼1 E i;in;mat  j¼1 E j;out;mat þ i¼1 E i;in;en

It is clear from Eq. (7) that the difference of the exergies of the incoming and the outgoing
material flows is constant for all ‘‘A’’- and ‘‘B’’-loops. Thus the values of g0e for the ‘‘A’’-loops
depend only on the loops parameters and so is the case for the ‘‘B’’-loops. The values of g0e are
much lower than those of ge and their dependence on the loops parameters is stronger (Table 2),
but they could only be used for comparison of the efficiency of studied loops.
A conclusion was drawn from the above discussion that the distribution of exergy losses and
their dependence on the loop parameters are much more informative than the exergy degree of
perfection.

4.3. Exergy losses in ammonia synthesis loops

An example of exergy losses distribution in the studied loops is shown in Fig. 4. It is clear
that the irreversibilities of the ammonia synthesis reaction as well as of the heat exchange and
recovery are the major sources of exergy losses. They account for 1000–1150 MJ/t NH3 or
around 65% of total losses in loops no. 2A–4A and around 52% in loops 2B–4B, respectively.
The exergy losses in external subsystems are as follows:

. ammonia plant steam Rankine cycle about 200 MJ/t (10–12%),

. refrigeration unit from 0 in loops no. 5A and 5B to 250 MJ/t in loops no. 2A and 2B (0–
12%),
. cryogenic purge and flash gas recovery (only in ‘‘B’’-loops) around 200–250 MJ/t (10%),
. recovered H2–N2 recompression (in ‘‘B’’ loops) around 100 MJ/t (5%).

It is interesting to note that the loops no. 5A and 5B have the least losses due to the absence
of second-stage ammonia condensation. However, this design is possible only at process press-
ure of minimum 30 MPa. In modern large-capacity single-train ammonia plants, lower process
pressures are preferable and the reactor size and weight have some limitations.
The comparison of two most representative loops: no. 2A and B with no. 4A and B (having
high and low degree of conversion, respectively) gives a rather unexpected result: the total
exergy losses in both kinds of these widely used designs are quite equal despite their rather dif-
2382 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384

Fig. 4. Exergy loss distribution in studied ammonia synthesis loops. Constant parameters as in Tables 1 and 2. Vari-
v v
able parameters: DTmin in LT heat exchanger 10 ; cold exchanger and chiller 5 .

ferent concepts. The smaller losses in the heat exchanger and utilization subsystem in loops no.
2 are balanced by greater irreversible losses in the reactor and in the second-stage ammonia
condensation and refrigeration.
Exergy losses in the reactor are due mainly to the irreversibilities of the ammonia synthesis
reaction as well as of the heat exchange in the reactor itself (Fig. 5). The former depends only
on approach to equilibrium and the latter on the degree of conversion. The pressure drop losses
are around 5% of total reactor losses.
The total exergy losses in reaction heat exchange and utilization subsystem depend only on the
degree of conversion and the minimum temperature approach in the LT heat exchanger. The tem-

Fig. 5. Exergy loss distribution in ammonia synthesis reactor subsystem. Space velocities, h1, in loops no. No.: 1A—
25 000; 1B, 2A, 4A—22 500; 2B, 4B, 5A—20 000; 3A—30 000; 3B—27 500; 5B—17 500.
 Z. Kirova-Yordanova / Energy 29 (2004) 2373–2384 2383

Fig. 6. Exergy loss distribution in heat recovery and utilization subsystem. Ammonia synthesis loop no. 4A minimum
v v
temperature approach in the LT heat exchanger: left 10 , right 60 C.

perature of the gas at BFW preheater inlet affects only the exergy losses distribution between the
HT and LT heat exchangers and the BFW preheater (Fig. 6).

5. Conclusions

A specific approach including suitable definitions of system boundaries and selection of pro-
cess parameters is proposed. It is used to study the dependence of exergy losses in the com-
monly used ammonia synthesis loop design at 30 MPa on the selected process parameters:
degree of conversion, approach to the equilibrium, inert contents and minimum temperature
approaches in LT heat exchanger, cold exchanger and chiller.
The ammonia synthesis reaction and the heat exchange and recovery subsystem are the major
sources of exergy losses (52–65% of the total losses). The only way to decrease the latter sub-
stantially and thus to improve the overall exergy efficiency of ammonia plants is the utilization
of the reaction heat at a higher temperature level for HP steam generation and superheating.
The exergy losses in the second stage of the ammonia condensation and refrigeration sub-
systems affect substantially the exergy efficiency of the ammonia synthesis loops. They determine
the selection of ammonia content in the reactor input and the corresponding degree of perfec-
tion. A possible way to decrease these losses is to use a multistage ammonia condensation and
refrigeration.
In a subsequent work, the proposed approach will be applied to study the effect of process
pressure as well as to analyze more efficient heat recovery and condensation subsystem designs.

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