Posted on 02/20/2022 11:21:16 AM PST by paladinkc
The electrochemical conversion of ammonia to dinitrogen in a direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC) is a necessary technology for the realization of a nitrogen economy. Previous efforts to catalyse this reaction with molecular complexes required the addition of exogenous oxidizing reagents or application of potentials greater than the thermodynamic potential for the oxygen reduction reaction—the cathodic process of a DAFC.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
I thought this was an interesting article and thought we likely have a few scientist in our group of freepers that might be able to provide more insight into if this is something that is viable or will likely get swept under the rug
Sounds fascinating but Ammonia is not the most user-friendly substance, is it?
Pee into the vat.
I remember a movie with Harrison Ford in it, where he builds a refrigeration plant in S America. It blew up spectacularly. That is just about my knowledge on the subject. Ammonia is not stable enough, to be used widely.
Great idea. Now either drill for mythical reserves in the ground, or since we only produce about 7% ammonia in the world, get ready for imports since China controls the largest exports at 32%. Focus on coal and natural gas and we can tell the world to F off for 500 years!
Piss Power
PhD scientist checking in...
Ammonia stores more hydrogen by mass and in smaller volume as a liquid at room temp than hydrogen does as a cryogenic liquid at 4 degrees above absolute zero. Its the ideal hydrogen storage medium. It us handled everyday all over the world in millions of tonne per year quantities. Its not for home use the average person is an idiot and will burn their lungs out eventually, but with proper OSHA procedures and safe guards its perfectly safe for industrial use.
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/projects/wind-energy-ammonia-synthesis
https://www.powermag.com/mitsubishi-power-developing-100-ammonia-capable-gas-turbine/
https://e360.yale.edu/features/from-fertilizer-to-fuel-can-green-ammonia-be-a-climate-fix
These are the two largest manufacturers of marine diesels what they do the entire industry will.follow.
https://www.man-es.com/discover/two-stroke-ammonia-engine
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2234110-wartsila-targets-ammoniaready-engine-in-2023
Be vewee vewee cahfull.
It’s not like ammonia is needed for anything like raising crops…
And it’s made from ‘fossil fuels’!
Lol, without exact conditions the emissions of those engines is N2O. That should make us all seem real happy...
It is used in every large commercial refrigeration system.
And on every farm.
Home made ammonia.
Install 4 times the needed capacity of solar power and during the day use what would be curtailed production to run ammonia synthesis plants flat out. Solar is already the cheapest form of power humans has ever invented.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a34372005/solar-cheapest-energy-ever/
This approach reverses the energy bottleneck from a energy supply limited bottleneck which is the case now with peaker plants needed in reserve to handle a few hours of peak loads per day. Reversing it to a demand limited bottleneck where there is so much excess solar power that you then can plan on having demand users come on line to suck down all that excess that would have been curtailed anyways.
Remember power transmission lines are built and sized by their peak demand flow ot is an absolute myth that power lines meed to cool down over night. A set of HVAC lines are sized for a peak load at summer time temps on the wires. Only in extreme weather events will they be down rated when temps soar in a heat wave that woukd apply with or without daily curtailment.
By flipping the energy paradigm to a curtailment based grid you have effectively free energy during the days as every watt curtailed is a watt not sold the solar operators can sell curtailment power for next to nothing and still make money.
This man is charging the evergy paradigm for hydrogen production. Getting an electrolysis capital costs are under $250 per kw means its economic to run them off curtailment power part time during the day.
Coal is filthy it will never be as clean as gas and always puts 10 to 2% of its heavy metals in vaporized form up the smoke stacks thats with the very best scrubbers that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to install and run. The EPA keeps detailed gas analytics from scrubbers check it out some time. Even at 2% the levels of Mercury ,lead and cadmium from coal stacks is unacceptable to modern society this is why our elected officials have clamped down on the allowable emissions even with scrubbers. Coal is on the way to the dust bin of history. The only way to use coal and not put mercury out the stacks is to gasify it into syngas cool it, six level deep clean it then burn it in gas turbines then scrubbers on the tail end for SOx,NOx, and the remaining mercury down to 99.8% percent captures. You can gasify at the surface or underground either with expensive and deep clean up gets gasified coal to near natural gas emissions of criteria pollutants. When not if a CO2 tax per tonne is implemented all those go out the window as coal is twice the CO2 as gas turbines. CCUS is not viable on the dilute gasses of a coal stack it is workable on the concentrated gasses of a oxygen fired turbine.
The problem with replacing gasoline with ammonia is dictated by the laws of thermodynamics. It only contains about half the energy density of carbon-based fuels, so it costs more to produce and distribute the same amount of energy. The whole rationale for alternative fuels is to reduce the amount of carbon emission into the atmosphere that influences surface temperature, but this influence is negligible compared to atmospheric water vapor, solar cycle variations, and changes in the Earth’s tilt. More carbon equals more plant food. Warmer temperatures also increase the water vapor held in the atmosphere which further “greens” the planet and produces more oxygen.
Those engines have SCR reduction catalysts that specifically target NOx to N2 every large diesel does to meet international NOx limits. Do you know what the chemical redox is used to drive the reaction. Its called DEF diesel exhausts fluid and its UREA which is broken down ar high temps in the exhaust system to ammonia. This engines will already have the ammonia needed to run the SCR cats in the gas stream. These engines have already proven lower total NOx emissions than the diesels they will replace. Read more from those engine markers they habe white papers available with the data you seek.
The X-15 rocket plane, first hypersonic manned aircraft, was powered by anhydrous (pure) ammonia and liquid oxygen.
It's also used in the refrigeration system of the International Space Station.
Happy to see someone who’s educated on the subject and handing out good information. Thanks!
I’m most decidedly NOT educated in that field, but I had always hoped we’d exploit hydrogen as a fuel in vehicles, and if this is a viable medium, you know the government will try to sweep it under the rug. They’ve already invested too much into other alternatives, if you can even call them that at this point given affordability of the product and the current “refueling” infrastructure, to want to invest in something else.
If people knew how truly environmentally unfriendly the mining for the metals in those batteries really is, the greenies would lose their collective sh!t. Kind of like how solar panels are prone to breakage and short life spans (incrementally creating less energy every year, plus a total lack of overall effectiveness), and how the blades of those windmills also have short life spans, and need to be dumped somewhere when they fall apart. They can’t exactly be refurbisbed and reused just for safety reasons alone.
You will definitely notice if you have a leak.
If ammonia spills it won’t cause damage to plant life. In fact it will work as fertilizer.
There won’t be a fire risk if it spills.
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