Patent ID: 7470415

Claim:
A process for the catalytic production of ammonia from a nitrogen/hydrogen mixture comprising: (a) passing natural gas, an O 2 rich gas containing at least 95% vol. of O 2 and water vapor to a reforming zone comprised of an autothermal reformer, wherein said autothermal reformer comprises a burner; (b) reforming, in said autothermal reformer, in the presence of a reforming catalyst said natural gas, O 2 rich gas and water vapor at a temperature in the range of 900-1200° C. and a pressure of 40-100 bar to produce a raw synthesis gas comprising an H 2 content of 55-75 vol. %, a CO content of 15-30 vol. %, a CO 2 content of 5-30 vol. %, and an H 2 :CO volume ratio of 1.6-4; (c) extracting and cooling said synthesis gas from said autothermal reformer; (d) passing said cooled synthesis gas through a shift conversion zone for convening CO +H 2 O into CO 2 +H 2 , wherein the converted synthesis gas has an H 2 content of 55 vol. % or greater and a CO content of 8 vol. % or less; (e) contacting said converted synthesis gas with liquid nitrogen in a multi stage gas washing process, wherein CO 2 , CO and CH 4 are removed from the convened synthesis gas and an N 2 —H 2 mixture is produced; and (f) feeding said N 2 —H 2 mixture to an ammonia synthesis plant for the catalytic production of ammonia.