Chemistry
The Role of Catalysts in Industrial Ammonia Synthesis
Quick fact
In the Haber-Bosch process, a 1-cubic-meter reactor can contain about 100 tonnes of catalyst—and just one active site on an iron crystal can produce thousands of ammonia molecules per second.
Why this is interesting
Ammonia fertilizer feeds billions of people, yet the nitrogen molecules used to make it are famously unreactive. How do industrial chemists persuade ordinary atmospheric nitrogen to react with hydrogen on a massive scale?