Chemistry

Improvement of ammonia synthesis: The new iron -based catalyst exceeds the century benchmark

Powerful electronic donation from aluminum hydrogen to iron surface promotes decomposed nitrogen molecules and continues ammonia synthesis even at 50 ° C. Credit: Tokyo Science Research Institute

NH3 is one of the most important chemicals in the world today because it is used to produce fertilizers to increase agricultural yield and maintain a growing world group. For more than 100 years, the production of NH3 has depended on the Haber -Bosch (HB) process, which combines nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst.

Interestingly, a century ago, a iron-based catalyst (called “promotion-fe”) was developed. In the HB process generated by a limited volume of catalyst filling, NH3 depends on the NH3 production rate per catalytic product, not per catalytic weight. The former looks like the latter at a glance, but these two are completely different.

The production rate of NH3/catalyst piles as a whole could not surpass the promoted catalyst at the temperature and pressure range. For this reason, most academic researchers chose to ignore the facts and compared the NH3 production rate/catalyst weight of the “new catalyst” of academic magazines. This competition does not lead to significant improvements in HB processes.

Against this background, the Japanese Science Tokyo Research Institute’s research team has taken a bold step with an innovative approach to the Catalyst design. As reported in the latest papers published in the Advanced Science magazine on January 23, 2025, Professor Michikazu Hara takes the principle of established iron -based catalysts and is essentially innovated. I changed it to a typical tool and achieved an amazing result.

The supporting metal catalyst used for NH3 production is usually composed of transition metal particles deposited in a large specific surface area and low -density material, ideally an NH3 production speed/catalytic weight/catalytic weight. Is enhanced. However, this design reduces the NH3 production rate/catalytic amount due to the low density.

Ammonia synthesis: The new iron -based catalyst exceeds the century benchmark

This study offers a promising strategy for developing efficient FE -based catalysts in HB processes. Credit: Tokyo Science Research Institute

To work on this issue, the Science Tokyo research team designed and tested metal catalysts with a reverse structure. In other words, the proposed catalyst was composed of large iron particles equipped with appropriate “promoters”.

“In reverse catalyst design, very active parts can be intensively spread from the center of the deposited promoter to the metal surface,” said Hara. Catalytic product -so far. “

After experimenting with various compositions, the research team settled on a catalyst consisting of aluminum hydrogen (ALH) and potassium filled with relatively large iron particles (ALH-K+/FE). The catalytic performance of this new material was excellent in various ways. NH3 production/volume of catalyst has reached CA. Three times the promotion FE.

Furthermore, the proposed catalysts can generate NH3 less than 200 ° C promoted to NH3 production, as HARA emphasized. The catalyst has developed so far, but NH3 has been synthesized in 50 ° C.

Through the organization research, researchers investigated the reasons behind the improvement of ALH-K+//FE catalyst performance. The results suggest that the reverse structure supports electronic donations on the surface of iron particles while increasing the number of active sites per unit area. This leads to more efficient cutting of N2. This is the rate limit step.

As a whole, the results of this study emphasize the possibility of an iron -based catalyst with an inverse structure of NH3 production. Considering that such a catalyst can be easily manufactured from a rich material on the earth, it can contribute to more efficient industrial NH3 production. This will help our mission to stop climate change.

Details: MASASHI HATTORI et al, ammonia synthesis through iron catalyst with reverse structure, advanced science (2025). Doi: 10.1002/ADVS.202410313

Provided by the Institute of Science

Quotation: Improvement of ammonia synthesis: The new iron-based catalyst is https://phys.org/news/2025-01– AMMONIA-SYNTHESIS-Iron from a catalyst based on the catalysts based on the catalysts based on It exceeds the benchmark of the century acquired on a day (2025, January 24). .html

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