Uniqueness of equilibrium in the Haber synthesis of ammonia

摘要

We report a rigorous examination of the gas phase equilibrium for the Haber synthesis of ammonia. In a setting of intensive variables and parameters we prove the existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium solution that corresponds to positive mole fractions for the constituents of the equilibrium. The uniqueness proof is established via the Sturm theorem of real algebraic geometry by exhausting all possible cases of vanishing denominators in the Sturm sequence.