A team of researchers in South Korea may have just reshaped the future of green fuel. While developing a cleaner, more efficient way to produce ammonia, which is a compound that is widely used in fertilizers and looked at as a next-generation fuel, they stumbled upon a catalyst that delivers three times the output of the previous methods.
The new catalyst, made of ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles, was designed to increase efficiency in ammonia synthesis under milder conditions. According to a study reported by Tech Xplore, it achieved what researchers called "triple efficiency," which could slash pollution output and reduce the high energy costs that are associated with ammonia production.
The increase in efficiency solves the issue of ammonia made at a global scale, mainly through the Haber-Bosch process, which requires an intense amount of heat and pressure. That method is responsible for nearly 1.3% of global planet-warming pollution like CO2, as per the International Energy Agency. The newly developed catalyst works at lower temperatures and pressures, which would cut down on both pollution and production costs.
The study mentions that the structure of the catalyst is what makes the key difference. Researchers used a polyol-based method to expose more "B5-sites", a type of atomic configuration on the catalyst surface that boosts activity. The sites allow nitrogen and hydrogen to bond more easily and form ammonia and improve the overall efficiency.
"We plan to move forward with performance verification through mass production of pellet-type catalysts and application in various ammonia cracking systems," study author Dr. Jeong Woo Han said in the Tech Xplore report.
If scaled up, this could help industries reduce their carbon footprint while also enabling clean hydrogen transport. Since ammonia can store and move hydrogen, it's seen as a promising energy carrier in an economy that no longer relies on carbon pollution.
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While there is no set rollout timeline, the researchers believe their method can be adopted using existing infrastructure, which could help speed things up.
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