Manufacturing and using nitrogen fertilizer solutions on a farm

Claim 1

A method of nitrogeneous fertilizing of farm lands comprising the steps of: burning ammonia in air at a rate of less than 60 pounds per hour over a catalyst at a concentration of between 10% and 25% by volume of ammonia to air and at a temperature of between 800 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure of 1/4 of an atmosphere on a farm to be fertilized to form a continuous stream of nitrogen oxides on the farm; oxidizing the nitrogen oxides to form a molar ratio of nitrogen dioxide to nitric oxide greater than one; mixing the nitrogen dioxide as the nitrogen dioxide is formed with flowing water from a source on a farm at a rate of less than 12 gallons per minute in a continuous process as the nitrogen dioxide is being formed to result in a dilute solution of nitric acid. reacting the remaining oxides with ammonium hydroxide in a continuous process within a reactor in a stream flowing in the range of 0.5 to 0.03 gallons each minute of ammoniated water per square foot of tank cross-section sufficiently ammoniated to provide a pH in the range of 8.0 to 8.4 passing through a mixture of nitrogen oxides in which the ratio of nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide is greater than 1 to form an ammonium nitrite solution liquid at a pH above 6.7; mixing the ammonium nitrite rapidly with the nitric acid at a pH of less than 2 to form a dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer comprising ammonium nitrate; and using the dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer in a process leading to and including the application of nitrogenous fertilizer on the farm as the fertilizer is being formed.

Claim 2

A method of nitrogeneous fertilizing of farm lands comprising the steps of: burning ammonia in air at a rate of less than 60 pounds per hour over a catalyst at a concentration of between 10% and 25% by volume of ammonia to air and at a temperature of between 800 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure of 1/4 of an atmosphere on a farm to be fertilized to form a continuous stream of nitrogen oxides on the farm; oxidizing the nitrogen oxides to form a molar ratio of nitrogen dioxide to nitric oxide greater than one; mixing the nitrogen dioxide as the nitrogen dioxide is formed with flowing water from a source on a farm at a rate of less than 12 gallons per minute in a continuous process as the nitrogen dioxide is being formed to result in a dilute solution of nitric acid. reacting the remaining oxides with ammonium hydroxide in a continuous process within a reactor in a stream flowing in the range of 0.5 to 0.03 gallons each minute of ammoniated water per square foot of tank cross-section sufficiently ammoniated to provide a pH in the range of 8.0 to 8.4 passing through a mixture of nitrogen oxides in which the ratio of nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide is greater than 1 to form an ammonium nitrite solution liquid at a pH above 6.7; mixing the ammonium nitrite rapidly with the nitric acid at a pH of less than 2 to form a dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer comprising ammonium nitrate; and using the dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer in a process leading to and including the application of nitrogenous fertilizer on the farm as the fertilizer is being formed.

Claim 5

A method of nitrogenous fertilizing comprising the steps of: recirculating water from a storage container through a conduit and back into the same storage container; burning ammonia in air at a rate of less than 146 pounds per hour over a catalyst at a concentration of between 10% and 25% by volume of ammonia to air and at a temperature of between 1000 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure of 1/4 of an atmosphere on a farm to be fertilized to form a continuous stream of nitrogen oxides on the farm; oxidizing a substantially equal molar quantity of the nitrogen oxides to nitrogen dioxide and to nitric oxide; mixing the nitrogen dioxide with flowing water from a source on a farm at a rate of less than 12 gallons per minute in a continuous process as the nitrogen dioxide is being formed to result in a dilute solution of nitric acid as the nitrogen dioxide is formed; reacting the remaining oxides with ammonium hydroxide in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure equal to 174 of an atmosphere within a reactor in a stream flowing in the range of less than 0.5 gallon each minute of ammoniated water per square foot of tank cross section sufficiently ammoniated to provide a pH in the range of 8.0 to 8.4 passing through a mixture of nitrogen oxides in which the ratio of nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide is greater than one to form an ammonium nitrite liquid at a pH above 6.7; mixing the ammonium nitrite rapidly with the nitric acid at a pH of less than 2 to form a dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer comprising ammonium nitrate; and flowing the dilute solution of nitrogen fertilizer as it is formed with the flowing water from the storage container to form a dilute solution of fertilizer as the nitrogen oxides are being formed for later application to land.

Claim 6

A method of nitrogenous fertilizing comprising the steps of: recirculating water from a storage container through a conduit and back into the same storage container; burning ammonia in air at a rate of less than 146 pounds per hour over a catalyst at a concentration of between 10% and 25% by volume of ammonia to air and at a temperature of between 1000 and 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure of 1/4 of an atmosphere on a farm to be fertilized to form a continuous stream of nitrogen oxides on the farm; oxidizing a substantially equal molar quantity of the nitrogen oxides to nitrogen dioxide and to nitric oxide; mixing the nitrogen dioxide with flowing water from a source on a farm at a rate of less than 12 gallons per minute in a continuous process as the nitrogen dioxide is being formed to result in a dilute solution of nitric acid as the nitrogen dioxide is formed; reacting the remaining oxides with ammonium hydroxide in a continuous process at a pressure between atmospheric pressure and a vacuum pressure equal to 174 of an atmosphere within a reactor in a stream flowing in the range of less than 0.5 gallon each minute of ammoniated water per square foot of tank cross section sufficiently ammoniated to provide a pH in the range of 8.0 to 8.4 passing through a mixture of nitrogen oxides in which the ratio of nitric oxide to nitrogen dioxide is greater than one to form an ammonium nitrite liquid at a pH above 6.7; mixing the ammonium nitrite rapidly with the nitric acid at a pH of less than 2 to form a dilute solution of liquid nitrogen fertilizer comprising ammonium nitrate; and flowing the dilute solution of nitrogen fertilizer as it is formed with the flowing water from the storage container to form a dilute solution of fertilizer as the nitrogen oxides are being formed for later application to land.

Claim 9

A method of making nitrogen solutions containing nitrate ions from anhydrous ammonia comprising the steps of: permitting the anhydrous ammonia to flow under pressure through an expansion pathway into an ammonia reactor; burning the ammonia over catalyst in the ammonia reactor to obtain nitrogen oxides; converting the nitrogen oxides to the nitrogen solutions in a nitrate reactor means; and removing heat from the nitrate reactor means by expanding the anhydrous ammonia to anhydrous vapor in the expansion pathway within the reactor means, whereby the efficiency of the reactions is increased.

Claim 10

A method of making nitrogen solutions containing nitrate ions from anhydrous ammonia comprising the steps of: permitting the anhydrous ammonia to flow under pressure through an expansion pathway into an ammonia reactor; burning the ammonia over catalyst in the ammonia reactor to obtain nitrogen oxides; converting the nitrogen oxides to the nitrogen solutions in a nitrate reactor means; and removing heat from the nitrate reactor means by expanding the anhydrous ammonia to anhydrous vapor in the expansion pathway within the reactor means, whereby the efficiency of the reactions is increased.