RestartNH3 - Energy functional processes and materials for storage of renewable energy in ammonia

当卡尔·博世和弗里茨·哈伯因发现人工固氮过程（哈伯-博世过程）而获得诺贝尔奖时，他们承认可能有其他生产氨的方法。一个多世纪过去了，我们仍然在使用同样依赖化石燃料的过程和一种非常相似的催化剂。现在，是时候重新发挥氨的作用了，而不仅仅是作为肥料养活超过50%的人口。在一个无碳社会中，氨（具有高能量密度和完善的运输基础设施）预计将成为可再生能源长期储存的关键，以使其生产与我们的能源需求保持一致。RestartNH3将提供一个开创性的无循环氨合成工艺，完全由可再生能源、水和空气驱动。其基础支柱将是开发作为低温氨催化剂和高温吸收剂的能量功能纳米材料。创新的技术进步将建立在这些革命性的能力之上，通过开创性地将反应和分离步骤整合到一个无回收的过程中，以及通过独特的热集成策略实现吸收剂的自我持续、节能再生。RestartNH3将提供灵活（快速响应）、高效（高能量存储）、分布式（与传统Haber Bosch工艺的规模经济相比，低资本）的氨合成工艺，以适应间歇性和地理上孤立的可再生能源生产。因此，我们将能够在它们的生产点储存可再生能源，长期储存并以氨的形式运输。这一进程有可能创建一个新的全球无碳能源贸易体系，类似于现有的化石燃料贸易体系，这对实现我们的无碳雄心和为联合国可持续发展目标做出贡献至关重要。

When Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber received their Nobel prize for the discovery of the artificial nitrogen fixation process (the Haber-Bosch process), they acknowledged that there might be other ways of producing ammonia. Over a century later, we are still using the same fossil fuel-dependent process and a very similar catalyst. Now, the time has arrived to restart the role of ammonia beyond feeding over 50 % of the population as fertiliser. In a carbon-free society, ammonia (with a high energy density and a well-established transport infrastructure) is anticipated to be the lynchpin for the long-term storage of renewable energy to align its production with our energy demands. RestartNH3 will provide a ground-breaking recycle-less ammonia synthesis process, driven exclusively by renewable energy, water and air. Its fundamental pillars will be the development of energy functional nano-materials as low temperature ammonia catalysts and high temperature absorbents. Innovative technological advances will build on these revolutionary capabilities through the pioneering integration of the reaction and separation steps into a recycle-less process as well as a self-sustained, energy-efficient regeneration of absorbents via a unique heat integration strategy. RestartNH3 will deliver an agile (fast response), efficient (high energy storage), distributed (low capital versus the economy of scale of the conventional Haber Bosch process) ammonia synthesis process aligned to the intermittent and geographically isolated production of renewable energy. As a result, we will be able to store renewable energy in their production points, to be stored long-term and transported in the form of ammonia. Such a process has the potential to create a new global carbon-free energy trade system similar to the existing one around fossil fuels, essential to fulfil our carbon-free ambitions and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.