Explorative Study of a Ru/CeO2 Catalyst for NH3 Synthesis from Renewable Hydrogen and Demonstration of NH3 Synthesis under a Range of Reaction Conditions

Tetsuya NANBA; Yuki NAGATA; Keisuke KOBAYASHI; Rahat JAVAID; Ryosuke ATSUMI; Masayasu NISHI; Takehisa MOCHIZUKI; Yuichi MANAKA; Hirokazu KOJIMA; Taku TSUJIMURA; Hideyuki MATSUMOTO; Takayoshi FUJIMOTO; Koichi SUZUKI; Takahiro OOUCHI; Sho KAMEDA; Yuki HOSHINO; Sho FUJIMOTO; Mototaka KAI; Yasushi FUJIMURA

doi:10.1627/jpi.64.1

Regular Paper

Explorative Study of a Ru/CeO₂ Catalyst for NH₃ Synthesis from Renewable Hydrogen and Demonstration of NH₃ Synthesis under a Range of Reaction Conditions

Tetsuya NANBA , Yuki NAGATA, Keisuke KOBAYASHI, Rahat JAVAID, Ryosuke ATSUMI, Masayasu NISHI, Takehisa MOCHIZUKI, Yuichi MANAKA, Hirokazu KOJIMA, Taku TSUJIMURA, Hideyuki MATSUMOTO, Takayoshi FUJIMOTO, Koichi SUZUKI, Takahiro OOUCHI, Sho KAMEDA, Yuki HOSHINO, Sho FUJIMOTO, Mototaka KAI, Yasushi FUJIMURA

Author information

Tetsuya NANBA Corresponding author
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Yuki NAGATA
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Keisuke KOBAYASHI
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Rahat JAVAID
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Ryosuke ATSUMI
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Masayasu NISHI
Energy Process Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Takehisa MOCHIZUKI
Energy Process Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Yuichi MANAKA
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Hirokazu KOJIMA
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Taku TSUJIMURA
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Hideyuki MATSUMOTO
Renewable Energy Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Dept. of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Takayoshi FUJIMOTO
JGC Corp.
Koichi SUZUKI
JGC Corp.
Takahiro OOUCHI
JGC Corp.
Sho KAMEDA
JGC Corp.
Yuki HOSHINO
JGC Corp.
Sho FUJIMOTO
JGC Corp.
Mototaka KAI
JGC Corp.
Yasushi FUJIMURA
JGC Corp.

Keywords: Ammonia, Variable hydrogen, Ruthenium, Cerium oxide, Demonstration

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2021 Volume 64 Issue 1 Pages 1-9

DOI https://doi.org/10.1627/jpi.64.1

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Abstract

The potential of Ru/CeO₂ catalysts to catalyze the synthesis of ammonia from renewable hydrogen was explored under ambient and high-pressure conditions. Different types of Ru precursors, CeO₂, and their combinations strongly influenced NH₃ synthesis activity. The catalytic activities of Ru(acac)₃ and Ru(NO)(NO₃)₃ were relatively high at ambient pressure. The activity of 1 wt% Ru/CeO₂ with Ru(NO)(NO₃)₃ as a Ru precursor was studied at high pressure. The dependence of NH₃ synthesis activities on temperature, pressure, space velocity, and H₂/N₂ ratio were investigated. The parameter dependences differed somewhat between different types of CeO₂. Use of CeO₂ with high surface area resulted in relatively high NH₃ synthesis rates and good low-pressure activity. Demonstration of NH₃ synthesis using the optimized Ru/CeO₂ catalyst was performed with a bench-scale plant with the recirculation of unreacted gases. NH₃ synthesis activity was measured using more than 130 combinations of temperature, pressure, space velocity, and H₂/N₂ ratio. NH₃ concentrations in the product gases were close to equilibrium value for the reaction conditions around 400 °C. The effects of operation load on the response of NH₃ production was acceptable. Ru/CeO₂ catalysts are good candidates for industrial NH₃ synthesis from renewable hydrogen.

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