Low-Pressure Electrolytic Ammonia (LPEA) Production
The project goal was to advance and demonstrate the techno-economic viability of a low-pressure electrolytic ammonia (LPEA) process for producing ammonia from electricity, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The critical enabling technology of the LPEA process is a proton-conducting electrolyte (PCE) developed by EERC and North Dakota State University (NDSU) capable of high proton conductivity (at least 1×10 -2 [0.01] siemens/centimeter [S/cm]) at 200°–300°C. An affordable PCE that works at 200°–300°C has been a major goal of the global electrochemistry industry for over 25 years, because it would enable operation at temperatures high enough to prevent catalyst poisoning and simplify water management and low enough to avoid temperature-driven degradation of fuel cell components comprising materials with differing coefficients of thermal expansion. Also critical to LPEA performance is a cathode catalyst capable of ammonia synthesis at a rate of ≥1×10 -10 moles/second-cm 2 catalyst surface area (mol-s -1 cm -2 ) in screening tests conducted at room temperature, and 1×10 -7 mol-s -1 cm -2 at 200°–300°C for commercial viability.