Scientists have presented a new technology that allows you to convert harmful ammonia into useful hydrogen. This requires a meager amount of electricity.
A research team from the UNIST School of Energy and Chemical Engineering in Korea has announced a breakthrough in technology that converts liquid ammonia to hydrogen. The results of their researchers have attracted the attention of eight research communities around the world because of the analysis protocol that can find optimal conditions for the process.
Scientists managed to obtain environmentally friendly hydrogen in large quantities with a purity of almost 100% by decomposing liquid ammonia into electricity. In addition, according to the research team, this method consumes three times less energy than hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water.
Ammonia has become an attractive potential hydrogen carrier due to its extremely high energy density and ease of storage and handling. Moreover, electrolysis of ammonia to produce nitrogen and hydrogen theoretically requires an external voltage of only 0.06V, which is much lower than the energy required for electrolysis of water (1.23V), the research team notes.
The scientists propose to use a gas chromatography procedure for this, which allows a reliable comparison and evaluation of a new catalyst for the oxidation of ammonia. Using this protocol, they were able to differentiate in detail the competitive oxidation reaction between ammonia oxidation and oxygen evolution with real-time monitoring, the research team said.
Using a pt catalyst, the researchers efficiently produced hydrogen with less energy consumption. This will make the process common among small groups of scientists with limited resources. Lotte Chemical has already expressed interest in it.
