Electrochemical Cells for Novel Routes to Ammonia

Ammonia is an extremely important chemical compound. The conventional production route is CO₂ intensive and almost 2% of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions stems from ammonia synthesis. This will have to change over the coming decades to reduce negative impact on the climate and ensure a green route to ammonia. Here, a novel way to provide the synthesis gas mixture for ammonia synthesis is suggested based on combining an SOEC to provide the hydrogen with a dedicated cell to provide also nitrogen for the process. This is suggested to be achieved by electrochemically pumping out oxygen from an air stream. Cells were successfully developed and characterized for this purpose. Exit streams with more than 98% nitrogen purity were documented and the developed cells were shown to be stable over test periods exceeding 3000 hours of operation.