Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

HABER PROCESS
FROM CHAPTER
NITROGEN & SULPHUR
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Haber Process
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Welcome to your Online Class

I, Sir Qasim, on the behalf of
ROOTS SCHOOL SYSTEM
WELCOME YOU ALL
to the first Online Class in this Virtual Learning
Environment of MICROSOFT TEAMS.

I hope you all find this a very fruitful experience.

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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Suggestions and Comments

• We encourage your continuous feedback
and support in the form of suggestions and
positive comments in order to improve our
learning experience.

So, Let’s start this journey into the land of

learning TOGETHER!

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

A few Rules
• Dear Students, In order for you all to learn
better there are a few things about which
you should be aware.
• During lecture you will all be muted
because too many mics cause a lot of
disturbance.
• All our sessions are being recorded so we
will have full history of who said what.

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Haber Process
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Keep in mind
• You will NOT talk to each other. If you
have any questions we will have Question
and Answer sessions after regular time
during the lecture.

• This is all to ensure that you students

obtain maximum academic benefit from us
and to create and healthy learning
environment.
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Haber Process
 HABER PROCESS -
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Importance
• Haber Process is used to make NH3
AMMONIA GAS
• The ammonia used to make Haber process is
very useful because this Ammonia is used for
making
• Fertilizers
• Explosives
• Nitric acid
• Nylon (used to make waterproof clothings and
strong ropes 6
Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Definition

• Haber process is an industrial process in

which Ammonia NH3 gas is manufactured
on large scale using nitrogen and
hydrogen gas using finely divided iron as
catalyst.

• 1N2 gas + 3 H2 gas <=====> 2 NH3 gas

• This is a reversible reaction
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Sources
• Nitrogen gas N2 is obtained by the process of
“Fractional Distillation of Liquid Air” where air is
cooled till -200°C and Nitrogen gets separated
from the air.

• Hydrogen gas is obtained from

❖“cracking of Hydrocarbons (organic
compounds)”
❖Reaction of methane (to be studied later in level
4 course
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Conditions Required
• As this is a reversible reaction so we want such
conditions that will favour the forward reaction
because maximum yield (amount of product) is
required.
• According to the laws of equilibrium the
conditions required are
• HIGH Reactant conc. LOW Product conc.
• Moderately High Temperature of around 450°C
• Very High Pressure of 250atm
• Finely divided Iron as Catalyst
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Points to Ponder
Now you might be wondering why very High
pressure is required?

250 atm means 250 times the normal

atmospheric pressure i.e 25000000 Pascals
or 25 million Pascals!!!!!

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Reason for VERY HIGH Pressure

• The reason is that Nitrogen gas is present
in air as a diatomic molecule called N2
• The two nitrogen atoms are joined very
strongly by three covalent bonds or triple
bond N = N which are very very strong and
required extreme conditions to break.
• That’s why VERY HIGH pressure is
required!

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Haber Process
 Three very important points
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

about Temperature
1- The equilibrium law tells us that Low
Temperature should be used to
produce maximum amount of
Ammonia.

This low temperature will decrease the

rate of reaction very much so low
temperature is NOT USED at all.

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Haber Process
 Three very important points
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

about Temperature

2- We CANNOT use very high temp like

1000°C because this would favour
reverse reaction and breakdown our
product!

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Haber Process
 Three very important points
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

about Temperature
3- So we choose the middle way of using
MODERATELY HIGH TEMPERATURE
of around 450°C.
✓This temp isn’t too low so our Speed of
reaction will not decrease
✓Nor is this temp too high so we can
prevent breaking down of Product as well
✓So it is a WIN – WIN situation!!!
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

STEPS OF HABER PROCESS

5
1 3
2 4

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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

1st Step of Haber process

• Nitrogen N2 and H2
1
Hydrogen is added in the
ratio of 1:3 according to balanced chemical
equation.
• 1N2 gas + 3 H2 gas <=====> 2 NH3 gas
• This keeps the Reactant conc. HIGH

1:3
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

2nd Step of Haber process

2
The gases are then compressed to very high
pressure 250 atm. Disadvantages of high pressure
is RISK OF EXPLOSION!
So the people working over there have to be well
trained and be very careful

2
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

3rd Step of Haber process

3
Gases are then allowed to react in Reaction or
Catalytic Chamber that contains IRON catalyst
and suitable temperature. Its is here that the main
reaction takes place
N2 gas + 3 H2 gas <=====> 2 NH3 gas

3
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

4th Step of Haber process

• As this is a reversible process so not all
reactant are converted into ammonia. So
the reaction mixture (after reaction has
reached equilibrium) contains all three
substances Nitrogen N2, Hydrogen H2 and
Ammonia NH3. So now we have to
separate them.

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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

4th Step of Haber process

The
4
Liquifying/boiling point
of Ammonia is
higher than B.P of N2 and H2. So the mixture
is cooled using cooling pipes and Ammonia
turns into liquid which can then be easily
separated

4
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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

5th Step of Haber process

•
5
The unreacted gases H2 and N2 are pumped
back into the compression chamber (step2) and
they are allowed to react again and again so that
maximum amount can be converted into
Ammonia gas. 5

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Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

STEPS OF HABER PROCESS

5

1 3
2 4

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Haber Process
 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

PROPERTIES OF AMMONIA
• Ammonia NH3 is a covalent compound
• It is a Pungent Smelling Gas.

• It reacts with acids to make Fertilizers

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

TEST FOR AMMONIA GAS

• Ammonia is very soluble in water. It
dissolves in water to form Weakly Basic
Solution.
• (Bases that dissolve in water are called
alkalis) So ammonia is an alkaline gas.
• Ammonia is a basic gas so its is tested by
litmus paper.

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Chemical Test for Ammonia Gas

• Test Bring damp/moist/wet Red litmus

paper to the mouth of test tube.

• Result Moist Red Litmus Paper

Turns Blue

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Haber Process
 How Fertilizers are made from
Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

AMMONIA GAS
• As Ammonia is a basic / Alkaline gas so
it reacts with acids to form salts of ammonia

Salts of ammonia are called Fertilizers.

HNO3 + NH3 → NH4NO3 (fertilizer)
H2SO4 + NH3 → (NH4)2SO4 (fertilizer)
H3PO4 + NH3 → (NH4)3PO4 (fertilizer)

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

FERTILIZERS
• Those Chemical Compounds that provide
essential minerals for proper growth of
crops / plants are called Fertilizers.

• EXAMPLES:
– AMMONIUM PHOSPHATE (NH4)3PO4
– AMMONIUM NITRATE
– AMMONIUM SULPHATE (NH4)2SO4

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Essential Minerals NPK

• Essential minerals required by Plants are NPK.

– Nitrogen (for making proteins)
– Phosphorous (for making DNA of cells)
– Potassium (for working of Guard Cells)
– Magnesium (for making chlorophyll)

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Important Examination Question

• Basic Compounds like Calcium Hydroxide
are added to soil to decrease its acidity (so
that crops may grow better.
• Suggest Why Ammonium Fertilizers
should not added to the soil at the same
time as Calcium hydroxide?

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Answer
• All bases react with ammonium
compounds to produce salt + water and
ammonium NH3 gas.

• Calcium hydroxide is a base so it will react with

ammonium fertilizer and release ammonia gas
which will escape into air. So all ammonia
(nitrogen) will be lost in air!

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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Watch video
Watch video on the following link to
improve your concept. I will ask
questions from these videos from you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAka
D6-7fgQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1_D4Fs
cMnU
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 Roots School System IGCSE - CHEMISTRY Sir Qasim 0321-5140796

Any Queries?
• QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION
• (Student’s turn to ask questions)

• QUIZ from random Students ( Teacher’s

turn to ask questions)

• In case of any further queries feel free to

contact Sir Qasim 0321-5140796
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