Topic: Electrochemical Ammonia

Electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from water and nitrogen at atmospheric pressure could be an alternative to the current ammonia synthesis process (i.e. Harbor-Bosch) and solve the inherent problems of the process including its high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. This study reports electrochemical ammonia synthesis from water and nitrogen in molten salts at atmospheric pressure and temperatures exceeding 623K. Modifications on surface materials of the nitrogen activation electrode were made, tested, and their ammonia synthesis rates were compared.

Besides its current applications, ammonia (i.e. carbon-free fuel) could play important roles in preparing for oil depletion and coping with climate change since it releases only nitrogen and water when burned. Ammonia contains 17.6wt% of hydrogen and has significant advantages over hydrogen in storing and transporting energy. The current industrial ammonia production is based on the Haber-Bosch process, which has the drawbacks of high greenhouse gas emission, reaching up to 2.16 kg CO2/kg NH3 and large energy consumption over 30 GJ/ton NH3 resulting from the production of the reactants and the high pressure-high temperature synthesis of ammonia. In order to…

Electrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia from Steam and Nitrogen Using an Oxygen-ion Conducting Electrolyte Jong Hoon Joo, Hyung Chul Yoon, Hana Jeoung, Ji Haeng Yu, Jong-Nam Kim, Youngmin Woo, Jin Young Jang, Korean Institute of Energy Research