Mechanocatalytic synthesis of ammonia at room temperature and atmospheric pressure
October 28, 2021
Unimagined effect: The grinding process in a ball mill activates a catalyst in such a way that it facilitates the synthesis of ammonia at a much lower temperature and pressure than is necessary in the well-established Haber-Bosch process.
Unimagined effect: The grinding process in a ball mill activates a catalyst in such a way that it facilitates the synthesis of ammonia at a much lower temperature and pressure than is necessary in the well-established Haber-Bosch process.
In an Angewandte-paper hot off the press, Steffen Reichle, Michael Felderhoff and Ferdi Schüth report the mechanocatalytic synthesis of ammonia over a cesium-promoted iron catalyst under mild conditions. Ammonia synthesis normally requires temperatures of 400-500°C and pressures of 150-300 bar. Ammonia is the basis of all nitrogen-containing fertilizers and is under discussion as transport and storage molecule for hydrogen in future energy systems. It is estimated that currently about 2 % of the global energy demand is used for ammonia synthesis.
S. Reichle, M. Felderhoff, F. Schüth. "Mechanocatalytic Room-Temperature Synthesis of Ammonia from Its Elements Down to Atmospheric Pressure", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., DOI: 10.1002/anie.202112095
Patrick Cramer will be the new president of the Max Planck Society from June 2023. He has now paid our campus in Mülheim a visit to speak to the directors and listen to the employees concerns and wishes.
Polymer chemistry is on the curriculum of secondary schools so that high school students are familiar to run reactions on polymerization in the school lab. But why not visit the place where a groundbreaking process for the production of plastics at low pressure was discovered? This becomes even more evident when you consider that Karl Ziegler – the…
Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung are part of a new European Project that deals with the impact of Mechanochemistry on industrial processes.