The University of Minnesota is leading a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Proton OnSite to develop a small-scale ammonia synthesis system using water and air, powered by wind energy. Instead of developing a new catalyst, this team aims to increase process efficiency by absorbing ammonia at modest pressures as soon as it is formed.
A technoeconomic model of the process will also be developed to aid commercialization of this exciting technology.
Principal investigators on this project include Dr. Alon McCormick, Dr. Ed Cussler, Dr. Paul Dauenhauer, and Dr. Prodromos Daoutidis at the Department of Chemical and Material Science, and Michael Reese at the West Central Research and Outreach Center, University of Minnesota. Additional team members include Dr. Michael Resch and Dr. Ling Tao, NREL, and Dr. Kathy Ayers, Proton OnSite.
More Info
- Project Fact Sheet (.pdf)
- Project Description
- Fueling Sustainable Energy and Agriculture: Putting Wind in a Bottle
- Transforming Ammonia Production for the Future (.pdf) Using stranded wind energy to store ammonia for fertilizer, as energy for the farm, and as energy for the electrical grid.
- Ammonia: Critical to Sustainable Global Prosperity (.pdf)
- Efficient, Low Pressure Ammonia Production Using Stable Absorbents (.pdf)(from the U of MN Office for Technology Commercialization)
- Resources related to the mini-Haber-Bosch and Absorbent-enhanced Haber-Bosch efforts.
- Ammonia Production from Wind Energy Gaining Momentum
Support for this work has included funds from ARPA-E (Department of Energy); from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund, administered by LCCMR; and earlier seed support from the University of Minnesota MNDrive initiative and from the UMN Institute on Renewable Energy and the Environment.
For further information on the project, please contact WCROC Director of Operations Michael Reese at [email protected] or 320-589-1711 ext. 2151, or Michael Resch at the NREL.