Patent GB-221229-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in methods of and apparatus for the synthesis of ammonia
IPC: C01C1/04
Filed: 1924-09-01
Abstract: 221,229. Synthetic Ammonia & Nitrates, Ltd., (Assignees of Kniskern, W. H.). Sept. 1, 1923, [Convention date]. Ammonia, catalytic production of from nitrogen and hydrogen; catalytic apparatus. - To regulate the temperature developed in the synthesis of ammonia, the catalytic material is pierced by a number of tubes through which the cool ingoing reaction gases pass before proceeding in the opposite direction through the surrounding catalytic material. In addition, the catalytic chamber is surrounded by one or more chambers in which the synthesis gases pass in opposite directions before entering the reaction chamber. Additional heat-interchangers may also be provided. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, a shell 10<a> surrounds the reaction chamber 11<a>, which is provided with tubes 13<a> located within the catalytic material 23a, The synthesis gases enter the shell 10<a> by the pipe 18<a>, pass round the reaction chamber 11<a>, risa through the tubes 13a, descend through the catalytic material which is supported on a grid, and leave the apparatus bv the pipe 19<a>. The catalytic chamber may be cooled by the regulated passage of air through an insulated space surrounding it. Furthermore, the catalytic chamber may be combined with a heat-interchanger, which may be separate from the catalytic chamber, as shown in Fig. 2, or may be constituted by extending the tubes in the catalytic chamber downwards, each tube then comprising a converter portion and a heat-interchanger portion. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, the reaction gases enter by the pipe 18<b>, rise in the space between the outer chamber and a secondary shell 32, and after passing through an aperture 12<e>, descend through the space between the secondary shell 32 and an inner shell comprising in its upper part the converter 11<c> and in its lower part the heat-interchanger 24. The gases then enter the heat-interchanger, flow in a sinuous direction around the tubes 27 therein, and pass into the catalytic chamber 11<c> where they rise through the tubes 13<b> and descend through the catalytic material 23<b>. Finally the reaction gases pass out of the catalytic chamber by the channel 30 into the heatinterchanger, where they descend through the tubes 27 and flow out of the apparatus by the pipe 19<b>. The velocity of the gases in the tubes 13<b> and 27 may be increased by the provision of core rods within the tubes. Catalytic material may also be provided in the exit passages or in the shell surrounding the reaction chamber. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) describes also a process and apparatus for gaseous exothermic catalytic reactions in which the synthesis gases pass through tubes in the catalytic material before proceeding through the latter in the opposite direction. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 (Cancelled), the gases enter a shell 11, located within the catalytic chamber 10, by the pipe 18, rise through the tubes 13, descend through the catalytic material 20 which is supported on a grid 21, and leave the apparatus by the pipe 19. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.