Eco-friendly reactor mimics lightning to produce ammonia from air and water
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This industrial chemical reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen produces ammonia, the key ingredient in synthetic fertilizers that supply much of the world's food supply and enabled the population explosion of the last century.
It may also threaten the existence of future generations. The process consumes about 2% of the world's total energy supply, and the hydrogen required for the reaction mostly comes from fossil fuels.
Taking inspiration from how nature—including lightning—produces ammonia, a team led by the University at Buffalo has developed a reactor that produces the chemical commodity from nitrogen in the air and water, without any carbon footprint.
This plasma-electrochemical reactor, described in a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, can sustain a high ammonia production rate of approximately 1 gram per day for over 1,000 hours at room temperature, and does so directly from air.
