PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The industrial production of urea using a high-pressure process goes back to Carl Bosch and Wilhelm Meiser. In 1922, BASF put the first production plant into operation where in a high-pressure reactor in a first step at 150 bar, ammonia and carbon dioxide formed ammonium carbamate (NH₄CO₂NH₂) in an -117 kJ / mol exothermic reaction:

2NH₃ + CO₂ → NH₄CO₂NH₂

Ammonium carbamate further reacts in an endothermic reaction to urea and water:

NH₄CO₂NH₂ → NH₂CONH₂ + H₂O