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Towards Green Ammonia Synthesis through Plasma‐Driven Nitrogen Oxidation and Catalytic Reduction
Author(s) -
Hollevoet Lander,
Jardali Fatme,
Gorbanev Yury,
Creel James,
Bogaerts Annemie,
Martens Johan A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202011676
Subject(s) - ammonia , ammonia production , chemistry , catalysis , nitrogen , hydrogen , renewable energy , plasma , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , electrical engineering , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
Ammonia is an industrial large‐volume chemical, with its main application in fertilizer production. It also attracts increasing attention as a green‐energy vector. Over the past century, ammonia production has been dominated by the Haber–Bosch process, in which a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen gas is converted to ammonia at high temperatures and pressures. Haber–Bosch processes with natural gas as the source of hydrogen are responsible for a significant share of the global CO 2 emissions. Processes involving plasma are currently being investigated as an alternative for decentralized ammonia production powered by renewable energy sources. In this work, we present the PNOCRA process (plasma nitrogen oxidation and catalytic reduction to ammonia), combining plasma‐assisted nitrogen oxidation and lean NO x trap technology, adopted from diesel‐engine exhaust gas aftertreatment technology. PNOCRA achieves an energy requirement of 4.6 MJ mol −1 NH 3 , which is more than four times less than the state‐of‐the‐art plasma‐enabled ammonia synthesis from N 2 and H 2 with reasonable yield (>1 %).