TY - JOUR
T1 - Greening Ammonia toward the Solar Ammonia Refinery
AU - Wang, Lu
AU - Xia, Meikun
AU - Wang, Hong
AU - Huang, Kefeng
AU - Qian, Chenxi
AU - Maravelias, Christos T.
AU - Ozin, Geoffrey A.
N1 - Funding Information:
G.A.O. is a Government of Canada Research Chair in Materials Chemistry and Nanochemistry. Financial support for the work of the solar fuels team was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Research Innovation , Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure , Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), Best in Science (MOECC), Connaught Innovation Fund , Connaught Global Challenge , Solutions 2030 Challenge Fund Ontario Center of Excellence , Low Carbon Innovation Fund Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science , Imperial Oil, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada . Critical reading and insightful feedback of the article by Aldo Steinfeld (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich), Tierui Zhang (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science), Michael Bender (BASF), Erik Haites (Margaree Consultants, Toronto), and Robert Morris (University of Toronto), is deeply appreciated. The proofreading of this article by Bob Davies proved to be invaluable.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2018/6/20
Y1 - 2018/6/20
N2 - In light of the targets set out by the Paris Climate Agreement and the global energy sector's ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables, the chemical industry is searching for innovative ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of ammonia. To address this need, research and development is under way around the world to replace the century-old Haber-Bosch process for manufacturing ammonia from N2 and H2, powered by renewable electricity. This involves replacing H2 obtained from steam-reformed CH4 to H2 that is instead obtained from electrolyzed H2O. This transition will enable the changeover from the Haber-Bosch production of NH3 to electrochemical, plasma chemical, thermochemical, and photochemical generation of NH3. If ammonia can eventually be produced directly from N2 and H2O powered by just sunlight, at a technologically significant scale, efficiency, and cost, in a “solar ammonia refinery,” green ammonia can change the world! It is well known that the century-old Haber-Bosch process, N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3, is thermally powered by fossil energy, resulting in a greenhouse gas intensive process, which needs to be replaced by one driven instead by renewable energy. To address this issue, we need to replace the energy-intensive synthesis process of ammonia from N2 and H2 by one powered instead by renewable electricity. This involves replacing H2 obtained from steam-reformed CH4 to H2 that is instead obtained from electrolyzed H2O. Consequently, the required energy is dramatically decreased, and the conversion no longer requires CH4 derived from natural gas because the H2 comes directly from H2O. Herein, we present a critical overview of past and current research on ammonia synthesis that is envisioned to evolve to the “solar ammonia refinery” of the future. A high-level analysis of the energy requirements of the proposed greening ammonia strategies further supports the “solar ammonia refinery.” An overview of current research theme of catalytic ammonia synthesis and potential candidates for “solar ammonia refinery.” A high-level analysis of the energy requirements for different ammonia synthesis strategies is shown.
AB - In light of the targets set out by the Paris Climate Agreement and the global energy sector's ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables, the chemical industry is searching for innovative ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of ammonia. To address this need, research and development is under way around the world to replace the century-old Haber-Bosch process for manufacturing ammonia from N2 and H2, powered by renewable electricity. This involves replacing H2 obtained from steam-reformed CH4 to H2 that is instead obtained from electrolyzed H2O. This transition will enable the changeover from the Haber-Bosch production of NH3 to electrochemical, plasma chemical, thermochemical, and photochemical generation of NH3. If ammonia can eventually be produced directly from N2 and H2O powered by just sunlight, at a technologically significant scale, efficiency, and cost, in a “solar ammonia refinery,” green ammonia can change the world! It is well known that the century-old Haber-Bosch process, N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3, is thermally powered by fossil energy, resulting in a greenhouse gas intensive process, which needs to be replaced by one driven instead by renewable energy. To address this issue, we need to replace the energy-intensive synthesis process of ammonia from N2 and H2 by one powered instead by renewable electricity. This involves replacing H2 obtained from steam-reformed CH4 to H2 that is instead obtained from electrolyzed H2O. Consequently, the required energy is dramatically decreased, and the conversion no longer requires CH4 derived from natural gas because the H2 comes directly from H2O. Herein, we present a critical overview of past and current research on ammonia synthesis that is envisioned to evolve to the “solar ammonia refinery” of the future. A high-level analysis of the energy requirements of the proposed greening ammonia strategies further supports the “solar ammonia refinery.” An overview of current research theme of catalytic ammonia synthesis and potential candidates for “solar ammonia refinery.” A high-level analysis of the energy requirements for different ammonia synthesis strategies is shown.
KW - energy analysis
KW - nitrogen fixation
KW - nitrogen reduction
KW - renewable ammonia
KW - solar ammonia
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U2 - 10.1016/j.joule.2018.04.017
DO - 10.1016/j.joule.2018.04.017
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85046618808
SN - 2542-4351
VL - 2
SP - 1055
EP - 1074
JO - Joule
JF - Joule
IS - 6
ER -