| Ammonia NH3 cracker, hydrogen generator for the generation of hydrogen H2, forming gas H2/N2 | ||
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Hydrogen is indispensable for the bright hardening of metals. But, viewed from the standpoint of safety, hydrogen gas is by no means an advantageous atmosphere. Dissociated ammonia atmosphere or forming gas is the only furnace atmosphere that can make up the demerits of hydrogen and function nearly 100% as if it were hydrogen gas. There are cases where forming gas cannot replace pure hydrogen, but such cases are very rare. For almost all applications involved, forming gas atmosphere will answer the purpose.
An ammonia cracker, NH3-Cracker or hydrogen generator is used for the production of forming gas. Hydrogen and Nitrogen are generated in a cost effective way in a volume ratio of 3 : 1 or in a weight ratio of 14 : 3. Capacities from 5m3/h to 60m3/h are available.
The NH3 is coming from bottles or from an ammonia tank. The ammonia gas is pre-heated in a heat exchanger and vaporizer and then cracked in the main furnace unit. The furnace is electrically heated by special LGO heating elements.

The dissociation of ammonia gas NH3
takes place at a temperature of 920°C in the presence of a special nickel catalyst in an electrically heated furnace.
2 NH3
N2 + 3 H2
The cracked gas then passes the heat exchanger for cooling and for pre-heating the incoming gas. This way and in combination with
the low power consuming LGO heating elements, it can be made sure that only a minimum of electricity has to be used for the
cracking process.
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AM Gas Generator.Features:
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As a result of complete dissociation into hydrogen and nitrogen, very little undissociated ammonia remains and the dew point temperature of the resulting gas is very low (well below -30°C).
Gas Purifier
As an option and in order to reduce the dew point of the generated forming gas further, a special forming gas purifier is available from Koyo Thermo Systems. Using molecular sieve technology, the dew point of the generated gas can be reduced to less than -65°C. Two adsorber units are working in parallel, one for adsorbing moisture and un-cracked ammonia from the forming gas and the other one is heated for regeneration. Every 6 h the gas flow is changed automatically.
Applications for dissociated ammonia
The forming gas is used in conveyer furnaces and in tube furnaces for anneal processes in a reducing atmosphere, brazing, sintering, deoxidation, and nitrization. You will find more details about these furnaces in our Koyo Thermo Systems product overview.
Further application for forming gas are:
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Metal anneal:
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Gas Properties
The gas generated by the dissociation of ammonia is forming gas. It consists of 75 Vol% hydrogen and 25 Vol% nitrogen.
| Description | Ammonia NH3 | Hydrogen H2 | Nitrogen N2 |
| Molecular Weight |
17,03 |
2,0158 |
28,0134 |
| Boiling Point (BP) in °C |
-33,35 |
-252,87 |
-195,8 |
| Liquid Density at BP in kg/m3 |
682,1 |
70,0 |
804,0 |
| Vapor Density at BP in kg/m3 |
0,8906 |
1,329 |
4,613 |
| Density at RT in kg/m3 |
0,7710 |
0,0899 |
1,2506 |
| Heat of Vaporization in kJ/kg |
1368,2 |
451,9 |
199,2 |
| Solubility in cold water in g/100ml |
89,9 |
- |
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| Cp in kJ/kg (1 atm, RT) |
2,188 |
14,2 |
1,038 |
| Cp/Cv (1 atm, RT) |
1,31 |
1,41 |
1,40 |
AM Product types
Several sizes of ammonia crackers are available from Koyo Thermo Systems:
| MODEL |
Generation capacity |
Ammonia consumption |
Power requirement |
Dimension |
| AM- 5MT |
5 |
2,5 |
11 |
1400 X 840 X 1750 |
| AM- 10MT |
10 |
5 |
16.5 |
1450 X 840 X 2150 |
| AM- 15MT |
15 |
7,5 |
18 |
1450 X 900 X 2700 |
| AM- 20MT |
20 |
10 |
26 |
1650 X 900 X 2500 |
| AM- 30MT |
30 |
15 |
28.5 |
1650 X 900 X 2700 |
| AM- 40MT |
40 |
20 |
52 |
2500 X 1000 X 2500 |
| AM- 60MT |
60 |
30 |
59.5 |
2800 X 1000 X 2900 |
For the production of larger amounts of forming gas, several units can be installed in parallel.
Koyo Thermo Systems and Crystec will be pleased to engineer a cost effective system to satisfy your most demanding and exacting requirements.
| Crystec Technology Trading GmbH will be pleased to further discuss details with you. | ||
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