MANUFACTURE OF AMMONIUM NITRATE

摘要

Disclosed is a process for the manufacture of ammonium nitrate using urea process tail gas, the tail gas including ammonia, carbon dioxide and water vapor. The process includes the steps of: reacting water with nitrogen dioxide in an absorption tower to form nitric acid; reacting the urea process tail gas with the nitric acid to yield an aqueous solution including ammonium nitrate and water, and a tail gas including carbon dioxide, ammonia and water vapor; adding a carrier gas to the ammonium nitrate process tail gas to yield a resultant gaseous stream; cooling the resultant gaseous stream to approximately 60.degree.C, a portion of the water vapor included in the resultant stream being condensed to water, and a portion of the ammonia reacting with a portion of the carbon dioxide to form ammonium carbonate and/or ammonium bicarbonate; passing the cooled resultant gaseous stream to the atmosphere; and passing the water to the absorption tower for use in the formation of nitric acid.