In the Haber process, only about 15% of the nitrogen and hydrogen is converted into ammonia each time the gases pass over the catalyst.
How does the process avoid wasting the unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen?
The unreacted gases are released into the air, because nitrogen is harmless.
The unreacted gases stay in the reactor until they have all turned into ammonia.
The unreacted gases are burned to provide energy to heat the reactor.
The ammonia is removed as a liquid, and the unreacted gases are recycled.
136 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Chemistry 6.1 Improving processes and products, covering 6.1.1 Extracting metals industrially and by electrolysis, 6.1.2 Life cycle assessment and recycling, 6.1.3 Biological methods of metal extraction, 6.1.4 The Haber process and the production of fertilisers, 6.1.5 Alloys and their uses, 6.1.6 Corrosion and its prevention, 6.1.7 Comparing and selecting materials, and 6.1.8 Industrial conditions, rate and position of equilibrium. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.