Monitoring and Management > 2. Maximising Production >
Explain why monitoring of the reaction vessel used in the Haber process is crucial and discuss the monitoring required
- The are a great number of conditions that need to be maintained in the Haber process in order to achieve safety and efficiency, and monitoring of the reaction vessel is therefore essential.
- Areas that require monitoring in the reaction vessel include:
- Temperature and pressure, which need to be kept in a range that will provide optimum efficiency (excessive temperatures can damage the catalyst).
- Oxygen, which needs to be kept absent from the reaction vessel in order to avoid risk of explosion.
- Carbon monoxide and sulfur compounds, which can poison the catalyst.
- Unreactive gases such as methane and argon, which can reduce efficiency in large quantities.
- The ratio of hydrogen gas to nitrogen gas, which needs to be kept at 3:1 (the correct stoichiometric ratio) in order to avoid the build-up of one gas.
- Much of this monitoring is performed automatically with the supervision of chemical engineers and industrial chemists.