Development of functional porous particulates for green ammonia production

氨是现代社会使用的最重要的化学品之一，由于人口增加和经济增长，预计到2050年氨的产量将翻一番。氨也是一种很有前途的零碳能源载体，可以长期储存可再生能源，也是一种直接燃烧的绿色燃料。今天，氨主要是通过集中式哈伯-博世(H-B)工艺从氮气和氢气中大规模生产出来的，该工艺通常在高温(450-600摄氏度)和高压(150-300巴)下进行。然而，这一发展良好的能源密集型过程消耗了世界一次能源供应的1%-2%，每年排放超过3亿吨二氧化碳。因此，由于农业和绿色燃料应用对氨的需求不断增加，迫切需要开发新的革命性技术，利用可再生能源进行分散的“绿色氨生产”。这项提议旨在开发一种突破性方法，使用创新的功能性多孔颗粒和新兴的等离子体技术，利用当地过多的可再生电力分散生产氨，否则由于需求和/或输电限制，这些电力将被削减发电。在本项目中，我们将展示合成高孔泡沫锂颗粒来强化固氮反应和非热等离子体辅助的柔性氢氧化锂分解反应。

Ammonia is one of the most important chemicals used in modern society and the production of ammonia is estimated to be doubled by 2050 due to the population increase and growth of the economy. Ammonia is also a promising zero-carbon energy vector for long-term renewable energy storage and a green fuel through direct combustion. Today, ammonia is mainly produced from N2 and H2 on a large scale through the centralised Haber-Bosch (H-B) process, which is typically carried out at high temperatures (450 - 600 oC) and high pressures (150 - 300 bar). However, this well-developed and energy-intensive process consumes 1 - 2% of the world's primary energy supply and emits over 300 million metric tons of CO2 each year. Therefore, developing new revolutionised technologies for decentralised 'green ammonia production' using renewables is urgently needed due to the constantly increasing demand for ammonia in both agricultural and green fuel applications. This proposal aims to develop a breakthrough approach using innovative functional porous particulates and an emerging plasma technology for decentralised ammonia production using local excessive renewable electricity, which is otherwise curtailed from generation due to low demand and/or transmission constraints. In this project, we will demonstrate the synthesis of highly porous lithium foam particulates to intensify the nitrogen fixation reaction and the non-thermal plasma-assisted flexible lithium hydroxide decomposition reaction.