Ammonia is one of the largest-volume synthetic chemicals produced in the world. Globally, manufacturing plants produce about 200 million tons of it each year. About 70% of ammonia is used to produce fertilizers.
Most ammonia is produced using the Haber-Bosch process, which converts hydrogen and nitrogen into ammonia. The process is energy-hungry, running at over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, and therefore results in lots of greenhouse gas emissions – about 1% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions.
Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia using wind energy to draw air through a mesh. The method allows sustainable production of ammonia using the nitrogen in the air.
The process gets nitrogen from the air along with hydrogen from water vapor. A mesh coated with catalysts facilitates the necessary chemical reactions. The process operates at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure, eliminating the need for the high temperatures and high pressures of the Haber-Bosch process.
In principle, farmers could run a portable device onsite, eliminating the need to purchase and ship fertilizer from a manufacturer.
The device is two or three years away from being market ready. The developers are designing increasingly large mesh systems to produce greater quantities of ammonia. Ammonia has more uses beyond fertilizers including its use as an energy carrier that can store and transport energy more efficiently than hydrogen gas.
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New device produces critical fertilizer ingredient from thin air, cutting carbon emissions
Photo, posted September 2, 2013, courtesy of Chafer Machinery via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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