Driven by curiosity. Driving changeGreen Ammonia
Our vision
Storage of renewable energy in the carbon-free chemical bonds of green ammonia have the potential to transform our energy system, decarbonising our society.
Green ammonia can also provide green fertilisers to feed the World population.
Further details about the potential of green ammonia can be found in this Royal Society policy briefing document, co-authored by the group.
What is Green Ammonia?
Ammonia is currently produced using fossil fuels (so-called brown or grey ammonia), contributing to ~ 2% of the global CO2 emissions. This is a fundamental molecule in our society as its use as fertiliser feeds ~ 50% of the World population.
In contrast, green ammonia is synthesised using exclusively renewable energy, water (as hydrogen source) and nitrogen (from air).
Our activities
Synthesising green ammonia is technologically possible today, however, its cost is very high due to the challenges associated with using intermittent energy sources such as solar or wind energy.
Read here our perspective about the challenges associated with decarbonisation of the chemical industry (so-called Power-to-X).To tackle this challenge, the group is developing:
- Novel low temperature, low pressure processes for ammonia synthesis, based on absorption-enhanced processes.
- New heterogenous catalysts and approaches for low temperature nitrogen activation
- Inherently safe ammonia storage systems
- System-level design of ammonia cracking systems.
- Most of our solutions are directly applicable to other Power-to-X processes through the development of:
- Decentralise, small-scale, modular processes suitable for distributed renewable energy production.
- Flexible chemical processes, including dynamic process modelling
- New heat integration approaches for dynamic operation.
- Location-tailored techno-economic analysis.
- European Research Council consolidator grant (ReStart NH3)
- UK Research Institute – Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Royal Academy of Engineering – Green Future Fellowship
We also offer consultancy services for those companies interested in new approaches for the design, operation and economic evaluation of Power-to-X processes through Cambridge Innovations in Ammonia (CIA).