Solar driven electrochemical nitrogen fixation for ammonia refinery

Projektbeschreibung

Dünger vom Himmel wird mit ein wenig Hilfe der Sonne umweltfreundlicher

Dem zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts entwickelten Haber-Bosch-Verfahren wird das Verdienst zugeschrieben, eine Nahrungsmittelerzeugung ermöglicht zu haben, die 30 bis 50 % der Weltbevölkerung ernährt hat. Es kann dazu verwendet werden, Stickstoff (N2) aus der Luft zu nutzen und mit Wasserstoff zu kombinieren, um Ammoniak (NH3) zu erzeugen. Auf diese Weise hergestelltes synthetisches NH3 wird in Düngemitteln auf der ganzen Welt eingesetzt. Obwohl es heute eines der wichtigsten chemischen Verfahren darstellt, gehen die extrem hohen Drücke und Temperaturen, die für den Ablauf der Reaktion erforderlich sind, jedoch zu Lasten eines erheblichen Energieverbrauchs und CO2-Ausstoßes. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt SuN2rise sieht vor, dieses Verfahren ins 21. Jahrhundert zu holen, indem es die NH3-Erzeugung aus Luft und Wasser durch eine sonnengetriebene Reaktion ermöglicht.

Ziel

The preservation of our planet is the most urgent issue in the world, and the COP21 conference pushed a lot of researchers to work on technologies for the storage/conversion of CO2 into chemicals. However, since I believe that it is easier not to produce CO2 than setting-up plants to treat it, I propose an alternative breakthrough based on a versatile solar-driven strategy leading to redesign industrial processes.
Facing the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia production (one of the most impactful chemical processes today), I propose the electrochemical fixation of dinitrogen into ammonia, by simply using air, water and ambient conditions. I will demonstrate an integrated device where a photovoltaic (PV) unit will power a regenerative electrocatalytic cell converting dinitrogen to ammonia (E-NRR). A newly proposed Li-mediated approach under mild conditions, derived from a interdisciplinary contamination between electrocatalysis and Li-batteries, will be the key towards a >95% N2 conversion, bypassing both the competitive hydrogen reduction reaction and the complete irreproducibility of recent E-NRR approaches attributed to N-contaminations or degradation of N-based catalysts.
I will further move beyond the state-of-the-art by fabricating transparent devices, that can be integrated in greenhouses, allowing the production of ammonia and ammonium fertilizers directly in farms, bypassing the known issues related to the massive infrastructure of ammonia plants and difficulties in reaching remote communities. The proposed approach will significantly impact also the field of liquid fuels, being ammonia safer and with higher energy density than hydrogen.
Achieving these goals will require multidisciplinary expertise in the field of chemical, material, process and device engineering. In my career I have demonstrated skills in similarly complex projects and in each of these challenging fields, bringing to technological and socio-economic benefits.