Category Archives: Conference Paper

Exploring Peptide-Bound Catalysts for Electrochemical Ammonia Generation

Posted on October 1, 2017 by | 2 comments

Charles Loney1*, Ashley Graybill1, Cheyan Xu1, Julie Renner1, Prashant Acharya2, David Suttmiller2, Lauren Greenlee2, Luke Wiles3, Katherine Ayers3, Wayne Gellett3
[1] Case Western Reserve University; [2] University of Arkansas; and [3] Proton OnSite, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Today, most ammonia (NH3) manufacturing occurs via the Haber-Bosch process. This process consumes hydrogen from fossil fuels, and as a result NH3 contributes the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions out of the top 18 large-volume chemicals made globally. Because the process is high temperature (400°–500°C) and pressure (150–300 atm) with a low (15%) single-pass conversion efficiency, the plants have to be very large to be economical. This means that ammonia is shipped from centralized locations, further increasing greenhouse gas emissions because of the fuel consumed in transportation. Additionally, their large size makes it difficult to integrate with renewable sources of hydrogen, such as electrolysis. Continue reading →

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Design Optimization of a Distributed Ammonia Generation System

Posted on October 1, 2017 by | 2 comments

Matthew Palys*, Alon McCormick, Prodromos Daoutidis
University of Minnesota, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Distributed ammonia generation located near farms is a promising alternative to the current practice of large-scale, centralized production. This production mode would reduce the need for transportation of ammonia over long distances currently caused by the mismatch between production and consumption locations. In addition, a small-scale ammonia synthesis process could more easily take advantage of distributed power generation based on wind or sunlight to reduce energy costs and lessen the dependence on fossil fuels. Distributed, renewables-based fertilizer production would largely insulate farmers against market uncertainty while also increasing the sustainability of the agricultural supply chain.

However, a technically proven, economically competitive small-scale ammonia synthesis process which would facilitate this distributed generation paradigm does not currently exist. A wind powered plant which uses a scaled-down Haber-Bosch process has been installed in Morris, Minnesota [1], but ultimately, this process is too complex to operate and too costly for deployment on the scale of a farm or small group of farms. Recently, a novel reactive-separation process for ammonia synthesis has been proposed and proven on a lab scale [2]. A conventional catalyst is used to carry out the synthesis reaction. Then, ammonia is removed via chemisorption while unreacted hydrogen and nitrogen are recycled. This allows equilibrium limitations to be overcome and can facilitate operation at lower pressure and without the large temperature change exhibited in the Haber-Bosch process. Continue reading →

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Load Range Enhancement of Haber-Bosch Process Designs for NH3 Sustainable Energy Storage By Multi-Parametric Optimization

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Izzat Iqbal Cheema*, Florian Baakes, Ulrike Krewer
Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

With the world’s major shift towards renewable energy, the need of chemicals-based energy storage has drastically increased, as renewable energy is intermittent and energy storage medium is required. Among several chemical energy storage options, ammonia is promising for renewable energy on utility-scale. The Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis was the first heterogeneous catalytic system employed in the chemical industry and developed over a period of century. However, the conventional ammonia process has been designed and optimized for steady state operation and high capacity. Power-to-ammonia requires a more flexible operation, small size reactors and decentralized production. Continue reading →

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LiH Mediated Ammonia Synthesis Under Mild Condition

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Jianping Guo, Ping Chen*
Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Having a hydrogen content of 17.6 wt% NH3 is an attractive hydrogen carrier. The key issue for NH3 synthesis and decomposition is the development of non-noble metal based, highly active and stable catalysts that can be operated under mild condition. With the understanding on the interaction of LiH and Li2NH with 3d metals or their nitrides, novel catalyst systems, i. e., LiH-3d transition metals for NH3 synthesis and Li2NH-3d transition metal for NH3 decomposition, that have activities surpassing the highly active Ru-based catalysts were developed. The unique chemistry among TM, Li, N and H creates a two-reactive center mediated pathway favouring NH3 synthesis / decomposition over both early and late 3d transition metals under mild condition, i.e., detectable NH3 formation rates can be obtained at 150 °C over the Mn-, Fe- and Co-LiH composite catalysts, respectively. The characterization of intermediate phases and surface clusters of the catalysts allow the elucidation of the step-wise reaction pathway and the interpretation of catalytic mechanism. Continue reading →

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Influence of H2 / N2 Ratio on Dynamic Behavior of Ammonia Production on Ru Catalyst Under Low Pressure Condition

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Hideyuki Matsumoto*, Javaid Rahat, Tetsuya Nanba
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Recently deployment of renewable energy such as sunlight and wind power or deployment of process technologies for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is indispensable to reduce the CO2-emission. However, there are some issues to be solved in order to accelerate the mass deployment of renewable energy. Since amount of renewable energy quite changes unstably with time, which depends on weather and place, development of process systems technology is an issue for stable and effective utilization of electric power that is generated by fluctuating renewable energy.

Those in national institute of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) agree that process technologies on energy conversion of renewable electricity into hydrogen energy carrier are very useful to deploy long-term storage and long-distance transport of much more renewable inside and outside Japan. Ammonia is a potential hydrogen carrier that contains 17.6 wt% of hydrogen. Moreover, as an energy carrier, ammonia is thought to be a clean fuel as only water and nitrogen are produced on direct combustion. Continue reading →

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High Efficiency Electrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Nitrogen at Ambient Temperature and Pressure

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Greg Redden*, Fengling Zhou, Luis Azofra, Muataz Ali, Mega Kar, Alexandr Simonov, Ciaran McDonnell, Chenghua Sun, Angeline Bartholomeusz, Xinyi Zhang, Douglas MacFarlane
Monash University, Australia

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Ammonia as well as being an important fertiliser is being increasingly considered as an easily transported carrier of hydrogen energy. However, the traditional Haber-Bosch process for the production of ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen and fossil fuels is a high temperature and pressure process that is energy intensive. Newer technology is being investigated to produce sustainable ammonia from green energy. An ambient temperature, electrochemical synthesis of ammonia is an attractive alternative approach, but has, to date, not been achieved at high efficiency. Researchers from Monash University have obtained faradaic efficiency as high as 60% using liquid salt electrolytes under ambient conditions, viz. 25°C and 1 atmosphere pressure. We are developing a range of scaled prototypes for this technology. Continue reading →

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Early Transition Metal Carbide and Nitride Supported Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis

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Zixuan Wang*, Levi T. Thompson
University of Michigan, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

More than 180 million tons of NH3 are produced annual via the Haber-Bosch process which converts N2 and H2 at high temperatures (400 – 500°C) and pressures (150 – 300 bars). Ammonia synthesis also accounts for 1-2% of global energy consumption.1 The development of higher activity catalysts that can operate under less severe conditions would enhance the economics associated with and sustainability of NH3 synthesis.

Research described in this paper investigates the performance of transition metal carbide and nitride supported metals for NH3 synthesis. Previously, Mo2C and Mo2N have been reported to be more active than Ru-based catalysts, but slightly less active than the doubly-promoted Fe catalyst typically used in industrial processes.2 To enhance the performance of the bulk carbides and nitrides, we introduced metals including Fe and Ru. While carbide and nitride supported metal catalysts have typically been produced using the passivated supports, the method that we used allows for direct interaction between the metal and support material. Continue reading →

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Design of Iron-Nickel Nanocatalysts for Low-Temperature Electrochemical Ammonia Generation

Posted on October 1, 2017 by | 1 comment

Lauren Greenlee1*, Shelby Foster1, Prashant Acharya1, David Suttmiller1, Charles Loney2, Julie Renner2, Wayne Gellett3, Katherine Ayers3
[1] University of Arkansas; [2] Case Western Reserve University; and [3] Proton OnSite, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

The Haber-Bosch industrial process for ammonia production is the cornerstone of modern commercial-fertilizer-based agriculture. Haber-Bosch ammonia fueled the global population growth of the 20th century, and approximately half of the nitrogen in human bodies today originates from ammonia-based fertilizer produced by the Haber-Bosch process. However, the Haber-Bosch process operates at high temperature and high pressure to achieve high conversion efficiencies, and the hydrogen input comes from steam reforming of coal or natural gas. In addition to the energy costs, the large production of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and the large required economies of scale motivate research efforts to explore other possible options for ammonia production. One potential option is low temperature electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and water. An electrochemical process that directly synthesizes ammonia molecules from nitrogen gas and the hydrogen atoms of water molecules would eliminate the need for fossil-fuel-based hydrogen as a reactant and decrease CO2 emissions. Further, an electrochemical system based on already-developed technology in the fuel cell and electrolysis arenas would enable a modular, scalable, and energy efficient process that could be connected to renewables (i.e., wind or solar) as the energy input. Continue reading →

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Coupling Integral Molten Salt Reactor Technology into Hybrid Nuclear: Direct Ammonia Production via H2 High Temperature Steam Electrolysis

Posted on October 1, 2017 by | 1 comment

John Kutsch
Terrestrial Energy USA, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Demands for safe, secure supplies of potable water across the planet are increasing faster than can be provided by natural, ever-depleting sources of fresh water. At the same time, world demand for electric power is also accelerating.

Making H2 from Natural Gas is not an optimal or very efficient process that is also un-economic at higher and erratic gas costs.

An Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) is uniquely suited to provide the very high temperatures (600 °C+ working temps) that are needed to generate both significant amounts of High Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE)-derived Hydrogen & Oxygen (a feed for industrial oxygen uses) and Electricity needed for advanced economies and industry. Continue reading →

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Atmospheric-Pressure Synthesis of Ammonia Using Non-Thermal Plasma with the Assistance of Ru-Based Multifunctional Catalyst

Posted on October 1, 2017 by | 1 comment

Peng Peng*, Yanling Cheng, Nan Zhou, Raymond Hatzenbeller, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan
University of Minnesota, United States

NH3 Fuel Conference, Minneapolis, November 2, 2017
AIChE Annual Meeting, Topical Conference: NH3 Energy+

ABSTRACT

Ammonia has much more uses than being a fertilizer. Its emerging applications include hydrogen carrier, fuel cells, clean transportation fuels, and other off-grid power applications. The traditional Haber Bosch process used to synthesize ammonia must be achieved at high temperature and pressure. The non-thermal plasma (NTP) allows for the synthesis of ammonia at a lower temperature and pressure conditions. It is proposed that the moderate process conditions can potentially allow a more economical construction and operation of ammonia production systems on distributed farms and renewable hydrogen production sites. In this study, we report the NTP synthesis of ammonia using dielectric discharge, and a Ru-based, multi-functional catalytic system deposited on mesoporous silica MCM-41. Continue reading →

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