New Ammonia Production model offers food and climate solution

For many centuries, ammonia (NH₃) has been a great aid in the hunger solution by helping us grow more food. However, ammonia also contributes to the greenhouse gas effects which greatly affects global climate. Ammonia is produced through the most known process since the early 20^th century, the Harber process, where the reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen is catalyzed by components like iron. The Harber process “takes high temperatures and pressures, using around 2% of the world’s energy” and produces innumerable amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that negatively affects climate change.

             However, chemist Licht and his team at George Washington University discovered a lower cost alternative to safely produce ammonia by reacting air, steam and electricity. Licht was able to produce hydrogen “from water by passing electrical current through molten salts like sodium hydroxide”, which was only the first step. He then discovered that nano-iron oxide is crucial to ammonia production without CO₂ emissions. Although this process is not fully stable and efficient, the energy consumption is “two-thirds that of the Harber process.” Licht and his team continue to strive for a better design that will even exploit thermal energy from the sun thus making this model more efficient.

            This particular article was interesting because climates change is currently one of the biggest global issues. Scientists are continuously finding low cost and low emission alternative solutions to reduce greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) that contribute to global warming. It is reassuring to know that there is such a discovery and I am excited to see how Licht will improve his ammonia production model.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/08/low-emission-ammonia-production

Submitted by Hanh Pham