Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

To make and use nitrogeneous fertilizer on a farm, nitrogen oxides are prepared in a continuous process from air or from ammonia in a reactor, with the ammonia either being transported to the farm or local site in a farming area or being prepared on the site in a continuous process from water and air. The nitrogen oxides are mixed with a continuous flow of water to form a solution of nitric acid, which may be applied to the field through the irrigation system as top dressing or mixed within the system with ammonium or other cations to form ammonium nitrate or other desired nitrogen solutions for application to the fields in a continuous process or concentrated without requiring storage of large amounts of gas or creating heat exchange problems in the manufacturing process. In the preferred embodiment which burns commercially supplied ammonia, the nitrogen oxides are: (1) contacted with an 8 percent nickel stainless steel mesh which fixes nitrogen oxide or nickel sites in a column 10 feet high and 1 foot in diameter; (2) while fixed, contacted with oxygen from air flowing in the column concurrently with the nitrogen oxides; and (3) oxidized, while fixed, to nitrogen dioxide. The nitrogen dioxide is dissolved and reacted in water flowing countercurrently through the mesh to form nitrate.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim