Japanese scientists at Hiroshima University have discovered a method for producing ammonia from its component molecules of nitrogen and hydrogen at room temperature. The new research, which was published on February 2 in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, illustrates a method with potential applications in renewable energy storage and transmission that depends on a distributed and fluctuating network of resources such as sun and wind.
“The ultimate objective of our work is to build the small-scale NH3 manufacturing method to efficiently use renewable energy,” stated research author and Hiroshima University’s Natural Science Center for Basic Research and Development associate professor Hiroki Miyaoka.
Ammonia (NH3) has recently been identified as an exceptional energy carrier molecule. Fritz Haber, a German scientist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918 for the synthesis of ammonia from its components, opening the door for ammonia’s key role in industrial fertilizers. However, the technologies available to manufacture ammonia have restricted its usage in renewable energy applications. The Haber-Bosch process, which is employed in the commercial manufacturing of ammonia, necessitates high temperatures and pressures, which are not normally found in renewable energy storage and transportation systems.
Researchers in the current study experimented with employing lithium oxide (Li2O) as a molecular scaffold to synthesize ammonia at ambient pressure and temperatures below 400°C, parameters that are easily replicated in nonindustrial settings. When they mixed the reactant lithium hydride with lithium oxide, they discovered that the lithium hydride inhibited clumping, resulting in smaller particles with greater surface area exposed to chemical reactions. They were able to synthesize ammonia more rapidly by using these non-agglomerated reactants and adding the gaseous hydrogen needed in the last phase of ammonia synthesis; the process was significantly sped up.
If ammonia can be manufactured fast using very basic equipment under moderate temperature and pressure conditions, it opens the door to smaller-scale ammonia production.
The findings of this research are applicable to renewable energy generation, which is more widely spread than industrial output. The technology developed at the Hiroshima lab to effectively manufacture ammonia under near-ambient circumstances serves as the basis for such applications.