Sustainable Ammonia Synthesis – Exploring the scientific challenges associated with discovering alternative, sustainable processes for ammonia production

Program Document · Thu Feb 18 04:00:00 EST 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1283146· OSTI ID:1283146

Nørskov, Jens ^[1]; Chen, Jingguang ^[2]; Miranda, Raul ^[3]; Fitzsimmons, Tim ^[3]; Stack, Robert ^[3]

---

1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
2. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
3. Dept. of Energy (DOE), Washington DC (United States). Office of Science

Ammonia (NH₃) is essential to all life on our planet. Until about 100 years ago, NH₃ produced by reduction of dinitrogen (N₂) in air came almost exclusively from bacteria containing the enzyme nitrogenase.. DOE convened a roundtable of experts on February 18, 2016. Participants in the Roundtable discussions concluded that the scientific basis for sustainable processes for ammonia synthesis is currently lacking, and it needs to be enhanced substantially before it can form the foundation for alternative processes. The Roundtable Panel identified an overarching grand challenge and several additional scientific grand challenges and research opportunities: -Discovery of active, selective, scalable, long-lived catalysts for sustainable ammonia synthesis. -Development of relatively low pressure (<10 atm) and relatively low temperature (<200 C) thermal processes. -Integration of knowledge from nature (enzyme catalysis), molecular/homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. -Development of electrochemical and photochemical routes for N₂ reduction based on proton and electron transfer -Development of biochemical routes to N₂ reduction -Development of chemical looping (solar thermochemical) approaches -Identification of descriptors of catalytic activity using a combination of theory and experiments -Characterization of surface adsorbates and catalyst structures (chemical, physical and electronic) under conditions relevant to ammonia synthesis.

• Research Organization: US DOE Office of Science
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
• OSTI ID: 1283146
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY