Fertilizer production from fossil fuel with minimal carbon dioxide emission

Abstract

An ammonia and fertilizer production process is based on partial oxidation of fossil fuel, which co-produces polycarbonsuboxide. The four step process is low-cost and low-carbon-dioxide emission. It comprises the steps of reacting fossil fuel with oxygen in air and steam in an electric discharge plasma to produce a gas exit stream of polycarbonsuboxide, hydrogen with associated nitrogen (); cooling the gas stream to condense and separate the polycarbonsuboxide as a solid polymer (); compressing the gas stream to pressures for synthesis of ammonia (); and, converting the gas stream to ammonia by employing a catalytic converter (). Optional steps involve gas cleanup, which include removal of contaminants from the gas stream and adding hydrogen or nitrogen to the gas stream to adjust the ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen to three to one, respectively, prior to converting the gas stream to ammonia ().