Acta Chimica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 78 ›› Issue (9): 916-927.DOI: 10.6023/A20060207 Previous Articles     Next Articles

Review

化学链合成氨研究进展

冯圣a,b, 高文波a, 曹湖军a, 郭建平a, 陈萍a,b   

  1. a 中国科学院大连化学物理研究所 中国科学院洁净能源创新研究院 能源材料化学协同创新中心(iChEM) 大连 116023;
    b 大连理工大学 张大煜化学学院 大连 116024
  • 投稿日期:2020-06-04 发布日期:2020-07-10
  • 通讯作者: 郭建平 E-mail:guojianping@dicp.ac.cn
  • 作者简介:冯圣,博士研究生.2019年起就读于大连理工大学张大煜化学学院攻读博士学位.目前主要研究方向为化学链合成氨以及电化学合成氨;高文波,博士.2019年毕业于中国科学院大连化学物理研究所,获理学博士学位.主要从事催化及化学链合成氨研究;曹湖军,副研究员,中国科学院青年创新促进会会员.2014年毕业于大连理工大学,获博士学位.2014年至2018年在德国亥姆霍兹材料与海洋研究所从事博士后工作.研究方向为新型功能化金属氢化物的合成及应用;郭建平,研究员,博士生导师.2015年毕业于中国科学院大连化学物理研究所,获博士学位.主要从事N2、H2、NH3等小分子的活化与转化方面的研究;陈萍,研究员,博士生导师,中国科学院大连化学物理研究所氢能与先进材料研究部部长.1997年毕业于厦门大学,获博士学位.研究领域主要包括储氢与多相催化方面的材料设计与开发.
  • 基金资助:
    项目受国家自然科学基金(Nos.21872137,21922205)和中国科学院青年创新促进会(No.2018213)资助.

Advances in the Chemical Looping Ammonia Synthesis

Feng Shenga,b, Gao Wenboa, Cao Hujuna, Guo Jianpinga, Chen Pinga,b   

  1. a Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China;
    b Zhang Dayu School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
  • Received:2020-06-04 Published:2020-07-10
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21872137, 21922205) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2018213).

Ammonia is not only the main raw material of nitrogen fertilizer, but also a promising energy carrier for the storage and utilization of renewable energy. The fossil fuel-based Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis industry is an energy-consuming and high CO2-emission process. For the sustainable growth of human society, it is critically important to develop "green" ammonia synthesis processes driven by renewable energies. This scenario motivates growing interests on ammonia synthesis via heterogeneous catalysis, electro-chemical and photo-chemical routes as well as chemical looping process. Chemical looping ammonia synthesis (CLAS) process involves a series of individual reactions which produce ammonia in a distinctly different manner to the catalytic process. The CLAS could be operated under ambient pressure, and the switching on/off operation is flexible. Therefore, CLAS may be more amenable to variable and intermittent operation compared to the conventional catalytic process. More importantly, the competitive adsorption of N2 and H2 or H2O in the catalytic process can be circumvented to a great extent, which opens new opportunities for the design and development of nitrogen carriers especially for low-temperature ammonia production. Because of these unique features, the application of chemical looping technology for ammonia synthesis has been received increasing attention in recent years. The development of high-efficiency nitrogen carriers is the key component for the implementation of CLAS. A wide range of materials including metal nitrides, metal imides, nitride-hydrides and oxynitrides have been evaluated as nitrogen carriers for CLAS. The knowledge accumulated during the past decade will no doubt beneficial for the further optimization and development of nitrogen carriers. This article reviews the research progress in the field of chemical looping ammonia synthesis in recent years, with the focuses on the materials development of nitrogen carriers in CLAS. Furthermore, the challenges and future directions of CLAS are also discussed. With the development of nitrogen carriers and process design, CLAS would potentially play an important role in the green ammonia synthesis as well as the future energy system.

Key words: ammonia synthesis, chemical looping, nitrogen carrier, nitride, imide