#C6.4.1
recall the importance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compounds in agricultural production
#C6.4.2
explain the importance of the Haber process in agricultural production and the benefits and costs of making and using fertilisers, including:
a) the balance between demand and supply of food worldwide
b) the sustainability and practical issues of producing and using synthetic and natural fertilisers on a large scale
c) the environmental impact of over-use of synthetic fertilisers (eutrophication)
#C6.4.3
explain how the commercially used conditions for the Haber process are related to the availability and cost of raw materials and energy supplies, control of equilibrium position and rate including:
a) the sourcing of raw materials and production of the feedstocks; nitrogen (from air), and hydrogen (from natural gas and steam)
b) the effect of a catalyst, temperature and pressure on the yield and rate of reaction
c) the separation of the ammonia and recycling of unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen
#C6.4.4
explain the trade-off between rate of production of a desired product and position of equilibrium in some industrially important processes
#C6.4.5
define the atom economy of a reaction
#C6.4.6
calculate the atom economy of a reaction to form a desired product from the balanced equation using the formula:
\(\text{atom economy} = \dfrac{\text{mass of atoms in desired product}}{\text{mass of atoms in reactants}} × 100\)
#C6.4.7
use arithmetic computation when calculating atom economy
#C6.4.8
explain why a particular reaction pathway is chosen to produce a specified product given appropriate data such as atom economy (if not calculated), yield, rate, equilibrium position, usefulness of by-products and evaluate the sustainability of the process
#C6.4.9
describe the industrial production of fertilisers as several integrated processes using a variety of raw materials and compare with laboratory syntheses. including:
a) demand for fertilisers (including ammonium sulfate) is often met from more than one process
b) some fertilisers are made as a bi-product or waste product of another process
c) process flow charts are used to summarise industrial processes and give information about raw materials, stages in the process, products, by-products and waste
d) lab processes prepare chemicals in batches, industrial processes are usually continuous
#C6.4.10
compare the industrial production of fertilisers with laboratory syntheses of the same products