Question
At the Nangal fertilizer plant in Punjab, hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of water. The hydrogen is used for the production of ammonia and nitric acid (by the oxidation of ammonia). If the average production of ammonium nitrate is 1152 kg/day, the daily consumption of electricity (in A /day) is
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Solution
Reactions involved are
$2H_{2}O\overset{\quad\text{electrolysis}\quad}{\rightarrow}2H_{2} + O_{2} $$${N_{2} + 3H_{2} \rightarrow 2NH_{3} }{NH_{3} + 2O_{2} \rightarrow HNO_{3} + H_{2}O }{NH_{3} + HNO_{3} \rightarrow NH_{4}NO_{3}}$$
For 1 mole NH4NO3, 3 moles of H2O should be electrolyzed. Hence for 1152 Kg NH4NO3, moles of H2 needed =$3 \times \frac{1152 \times 10^{3}}{80} = 4.32 \times 10^{4}$
Now, $n_{eq}H_{2} = \frac{Q}{F} \Rightarrow 4.32 \times 10^{4} \times 2 = \frac{i \times 24 \times 3600}{96500}$
∴ i = 96500 A/day
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