Electrochemical Production of Ammonia and Other Valuable Co-products

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Electrochemical Production of Ammonia and Other Valuable Co-products

Producing ammonia using nitrogen protonation in an integrated electrochemical membrane reactor.

Opportunity:   Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize this ammonia production technology. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses and ultimately an improved way of life for the American people.

Overview:       Ammonia is an essential precursor to a host of societally critical products including fertilizers and industrial feedstocks. Ammonia is also being considered a promising, carbon-free energy carrier. The current state-of-the-art process for producing ammonia, the Haber-Bosch process, is energy-intensive and produces a significant amount of greenhouse gas byproduct. A process that can efficiently convert nitrogen into ammonia and other valuable co-products based on the feedstock used would be an ideal solution.

Description:  Researchers at INL have developed a transformational process that produces ammonia using cheap feedstocks (e.g., steam, ethane) and nitrogen in an integrated electrochemical membrane reactor/cell at intermediate temperatures (400-600oC). When fed with steam on the anode side, steam is electrolyzed to produce protons and oxygen. The protons will go through the membrane and react with nitrogen at the cathode side to produce ammonia with oxygen as the co-product. When ethane is used as proton source, it is activated electrochemically through a non-oxidative deprotonation for ethylene production or coupling process to produce higher valuable hydrocarbons while ammonia is produced as the primary product.

Benefits:          INL’s process has the unique advantages of both electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) and electrochemical non-oxidative deprotonation (NDP) of ethane:

• Green hydrogen/protons involved with significantly reduced energy intensity and carbon emission.
• Membrane reactor that enables separating the primary products and realize high single pass conversion when one product is rapidly removed.
• Well matched temperature zones with the Haber-Bosch process.

Applications:  

• Agriculture
• Chemical/petrochemical industry
• Power/Transportation sector
• Other energy-intensive industries

Development Status:  TRL 2. This is an early-stage conceptual technology. Further development needed.

IP Status:         Patent Application No. 16/532,276, “Methods and Systems for Co-Producing Hydrocarbon Products and Ammonia, and Related Electrochemical Cells,” BEA Docket No. BA-1014.

Additional Information

INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.