Plasma Catalyst-Integrated System for Ammonia Production from H2O and N2 at Atmospheric Pressure

Plasma technology is considered a sustainable and clean technology for the conversion of naturally abundant compounds (i.e., water (H2O) and nitrogen gas (N2)) into energy-abundant compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas (H2), ammonia (NH3)) or chemical feed molecules (e.g., nitric oxide (NO)). Here, we report a plasma catalyst-integrated system for sustainable ammonia production, which can facilitate massive, localized ammonia production. This study demonstrates the single-step cogeneration of H2 and nitric oxides (NOx) from H2O in the nitrogen discharge used for ammonia production, which proceeded via the catalytic reduction of NOx by H2. The proposed plasma technique yields higher NO and H2 concentrations than conventional plasma methods, which were used to obtain an ammonia concentration of ∼0.84% with a selectivity of ∼95% and a production rate of 120 μmol/s. These promising results provide a breakthrough in the transition toward sustainable and environmentally friendly ammonia production.