(569bl) Compact, Modular Membrane Reactor for High-Efficiency Ammonia (NH3) Synthesis at Moderate Temperatures and Pressures

NH₃ is one of the largest-volume industrial chemicals synthesized in the world. Its global market has the potential to reach $76.64 Billion by 2025. Over 90% of the NH₃ is currently synthesized by the Haber-Bosch (HB) process at 200-300 bar and 450-500℃ with a single-pass NH₃ yield of only ~15%, resulting from the tradeoff between kinetics and thermodynamics. The NH₃ is then collected via a cryogenic condensation process by cooling from reaction temperature down to -18 – -33℃; the unreacted, large quantity of gas mixture (N₂+H₂) is reheated and recycled to the feed. The low conversion rate, cryogenic NH₃ purification process, and reheating of the large quantity of the recycled gas mixture make the whole process highly energy intensive. In this study, we developed a revolutionary membrane reactor and process for NH₃ synthesis at moderate temperatures (300-400 ℃) and pressures (10-50 bar). Our innovative membrane reactor incorporated with catalyst and membrane removes NH₃ in situ, thus breaking thermodynamics limitation and shifting the equilibrium towards NH₃ formation. A single-pass N₂ conversion has been achieved up to 47%, doubling the equilibrium conversion and tripling HB process (<15%). Attributing to the integrated one-step simple process and high NH₃ yield at lower operating temperature and pressure, the process can reduce over 70% energy consumption and lower 20% production cost, compared to the HB process.