Site items in: Distributed ammonia synthesis

Improvement of Haber-Bosch: Adsorption vs. Absorption
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Improvement of Haber-Bosch: Adsorption vs. Absorption

Trevor Brown December 01, 2017

At the recent NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, Grigorii Soloveichik described the future of ammonia synthesis technologies as a two-way choice: Improvement of Haber-Bosch or Electrochemical Synthesis. Two such Haber-Bosch improvement projects, which received ARPA-E-funding under Soloveichik's program direction, also presented

Process Synthesis and Global Optimization of Novel Ammonia Production Processes
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Process Synthesis and Global Optimization of Novel Ammonia Production Processes

Doga DemirhanWilliam TsoEfstratios Pistikopoulos November 2, 2017

Synthetic ammonia production has played a huge role in sustaining population growth by providing the nitrogen in fertilizers that are widely used in modern agriculture. Even long after it was first commercially developed by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in the 1930s, the Haber-Bosch process remains the basis for industrial ammonia production today. Through reducing energy requirements by half in the last 50 years, centralized industrial plants have kept their technical and economic advantage over other modes of operation. However, the centralized production also comes with high transportation costs, since plant capacities usually exceed local ammonia consumption [1]. This and…

Exploring Peptide-Bound Catalysts for Electrochemical Ammonia Generation
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Exploring Peptide-Bound Catalysts for Electrochemical Ammonia Generation

Charles LoneyAshley GraybillCheyan XuJulie RennerPrashant AcharyaDavid SuttmillerLauren F. GreenleeLuke WilesKatherine AyersWayne Gellett November 2, 2017

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…

Future of Ammonia Production: Improvement of Haber-Bosch Process or Electrochemical Synthesis?
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Future of Ammonia Production: Improvement of Haber-Bosch Process or Electrochemical Synthesis?

Grigorii Soloveichik November 1, 2017

Ammonia, the second most produced chemical in the world (176 million tons in 2014), is manufactured at large plants (1,000 – 1,500 t/day) using Haber-Bosch process developed more than hundred years ago. A simple reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen (produced by steam methane reforming or coal gasification) consumes about 2% of world energy, in part due to the use of high pressure and temperature. With the global transition from fossil fuels to intermittent renewable energy sources there is a need for long term storage and long range transmission of energy, for which ammonia is perfect fit. To make it practical,…

University of Minnesota's Ammonia Program
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University of Minnesota's Ammonia Program

Stephen H. Crolius December 16, 2016

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will present a Webinar on December 21 on "Distributed Ammonia Synthesis." The presenter will be Edward L. Cussler, Distinguished Institute Professor at the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department of the University

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Small Scale Low-Pressure Ammonia Synthesis

Mahdi MalmaliMichael ReeseAlon McCormickEdward Cussler September 19, 2016

Ammonia is one of the most important chemical commodities in the US and will be a key component in helping the world meet the rising demand for food and energy. Ammonia is needed in distributed locations for agriculture (as fertilizer for small grain and corn production), for indirect hydrogen storage1 (transported as a liquid at moderate pressure to hydrogen stations), or as a liquid fuel2 (for internal combustion engines or solid oxide fuel cells). Recently, there has been significant effort to develop scalable technologies for conversion of intermittent energies (e.g., solar, wind) into energy dense carbon-neutral liquid fuels, and ammonia…

Potential Strategies for Distributed, Small-Scale Sustainable Ammonia Production
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Potential Strategies for Distributed, Small-Scale Sustainable Ammonia Production

Alon McCormickEdward CusslerProdromos DaoutidisPaul DauenhauerLanny SchmidtRoger RuanDoug TiffanySteve KelleyMichael Reese September 21, 2015

Potential Strategies for Distributed, Small-Scale Sustainable Ammonia Production Alon McCormick*, Ed Cussler, Prodromos Daoutidis, Paul Dauenhauer, Lanny Schmidt, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Roger Ruan, Doug Tiffany, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering; Steve Kelley, Humphrey School of Public Affairs; Mike Reese, West Central Research and Outreach Center, University of Minnesota