CLEAN TURNOUT
A CO2-FREE AMMONIA-MAKING PROCESS REVEALED
Researchers globally are making innovations keeping the environment and green processes in mind. One such is by researchers from Rice University, USA, which has developed a new reactor yielding green ammonia and purified water by converting nitrates from common pollutants.
The reactor removes common pollutants found in industrial waste water and agricultural runoff, and converts them into ammonia — a vital chemical as fertilizer in agriculture and used in a wide range of industrial and commercial products. In the process, the water is rendered devoid of all its pollutants, leaving it purified.
The new reactor enables an electrochemical nitrate-to-ammonia conversion pathway that eliminates the need for denitrification. At present, ammonia is mainly made through the Haber-Bosh process, which entails a reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen that occurs under high temperature and pressure conditions and is dependent on large-scale centralized infrastructure.
The new reactor’s electrochemical synthesis involves the use of electricity to drive chemical reactions. It uses recyclable ions and a three-chamber system to improve the reaction’s efficiency, bypassing the traditional denitrification as well as the Haber-Bosch routes, providing an effective water decontamination method in a decarbonized manner.
Ammonia production accounts for 2% of global energy consumption and 1.4% of carbon dioxide emissions. Rice University’s new reactor provides a double benefit of upping ammonia production while decontaminating water in large quantities with no carbon dioxide emission.