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Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

nature.com

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Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#121

Post by ben_w »

amluto wrote: post #89
sfink wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my limited understanding, neither one really explodes. The petrol one would look like a huge impressive fireball that launches a big black mushroom cloud and then just burns like crazy. The hydrogen one, if the hydrogen is fairly pure, would be like a big faint blue wispy fireball, not all that impressive. If there were an oxidizer in the mix somehow, it would be rather more explosive.

If the hydrogen is fairly pure and the amount is question is small, then sure: combustion will happen at the hydrogen-air interface. If it mixes with air before ignition, then it can burn all a once, and Wikipedia informs me that “the limits of detonability of hydrogen in air are 18.3% to 59% by volume.”. Yes, it will literally detonate with supersonic flame velocity. I once got to watch some moderately crazy student…

Why is having open mouths important?

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#122

Post by ilyt »

marcodiego wrote: post #34
ilyt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

And I’d suggest you to be this rude somewhere else. You are entitled to ignore my question or downvote it. A bit of negative karma is way more didactic than your comment. Acting with this level of arrogance, no matter how out of touch my comment may be, isn’t good for anyone.

"I didn't bother to read, please shorten it up for me peasants" is the most arrogant thing you can do in online forums

You have no right to call anyone else "arrogant" Mr. main character complex

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#123

Post by ZeroGravitas »

fbdab103 wrote: post #8
RetroTechie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just fertilizer: "In addition to its use in the fertilizer and chemical industries, ammonia is currently seen as a potential replacement for carbon-based fuels and as a carrier for worldwide transportation of renewable energy." Long-term grid storage? Publication: 22 July 2022 Anyone know if maybe some pilot / small scale production facility has been set up in the mean time? I've read about a farm that produced i…

Are there power plants today that burn ammonia directly? If not, is it a simple/cheap enough conversion?

In Japan they're looking at adding Ammonia co-firing to coal plants:

https://about.bnef.com/blog/japans-ammonia-coal-co-firing-st...

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#124

Post by andrepd »

aifooh7Keew6xoo wrote: post #33
RetroTechie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just fertilizer: "In addition to its use in the fertilizer and chemical industries, ammonia is currently seen as a potential replacement for carbon-based fuels and as a carrier for worldwide transportation of renewable energy." Long-term grid storage? Publication: 22 July 2022 Anyone know if maybe some pilot / small scale production facility has been set up in the mean time? I've read about a farm that produced i…

Where are all the people that complain about the dangers and impracticality of hydrogen when the topic of using a corrosive gas that poses an immediate danger to life and health at concentrations as low as 300 ppm as a fuel comes up? They're trying to avoid using the stuff in industrial refrigeration it's so nasty, and yet here we are gleefully considering rolling down the highway with it in the cheapest vessel indus…

Especially frustrating when considering that decarbonising a large part of transportation is easy, but boring: it's trains, light rail, it's cycling infrastructure. Not as sexy as futuristic energy sources, but it's what will save us in this sector: viable alternatives to the horrendously inefficient automobile

This is not to mention everything else. The immense death toll directly (crashes) and indirectly (pollution, particulates, etc). The waste of space in cities. The waste of time in traffic that is unfixable if everyone is driving in an individual car. Etc etc. I wish people would stop trying to save the auto industry and start looking at the root of the problem.

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#125

Post by adrianN »

ben_w wrote: post #121
amluto wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the hydrogen is fairly pure and the amount is question is small, then sure: combustion will happen at the hydrogen-air interface. If it mixes with air before ignition, then it can burn all a once, and Wikipedia informs me that “the limits of detonability of hydrogen in air are 18.3% to 59% by volume.”. Yes, it will literally detonate with supersonic flame velocity. I once got to watch some moderately crazy student…

Why is having open mouths important?

Less pressure on your eardrums if the shock wave reaches them from both sides.

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#126

Post by jackmott »

_aavaa_ wrote: post #86
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toyota have produced a prototype ammonia engine they claim is the end of the EV market.

They can keep making claims to cover up their complete bungling of their market position. As for the idea itself. Ammonia as fuel fails the first principle of safe design. It’s a poisonous gas . Using it as a fuel is a willingness to trade the safety of people for a cheaper fuel.

[dead]

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#127

Post by dang »

ilyt wrote: post #26
marcodiego wrote: post #5

[flagged]

[flagged]

We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines and ignoring our request to stop.

If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#128

Post by dang »

marcodiego wrote: post #34
ilyt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

And I’d suggest you to be this rude somewhere else. You are entitled to ignore my question or downvote it. A bit of negative karma is way more didactic than your comment. Acting with this level of arrogance, no matter how out of touch my comment may be, isn’t good for anyone.

Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#129

Post by cornholio »

RetroTechie wrote: post #7
londons_explore wrote: post #2

Big if true... This could enable fertilizer production with no CO2 emissions. The numbers in the paper suggest that it might prove cheaper than natural gas based production which is common today. Fertilizer production is 2.1% of all CO2 emissions right now.

Not just fertilizer: "In addition to its use in the fertilizer and chemical industries, ammonia is currently seen as a potential replacement for carbon-based fuels and as a carrier for worldwide transportation of renewable energy." Long-term grid storage? Publication: 22 July 2022 Anyone know if maybe some pilot / small scale production facility has been set up in the mean time? I've read about a farm that produced i…

The Haber Bosch reaction does not produce any CO2:

  N2 + 3H2 -> 2NH3
The challenge is getting the zero emission Hydrogen. The process presented here is somewhat better than using electricity for the electrolysis split water, but still substantially more expensive than the gray Hydrogen obtain by cracking Methane gas and releasing the CO2.

Re: Nitrogen electroreduction with almost 100% current-to-ammonia efficiency (2022)

#130

Post by ben_w »

adrianN wrote: post #125
ben_w wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is having open mouths important?

Less pressure on your eardrums if the shock wave reaches them from both sides.

Ah. So holding my eustachian tubes open (half way through a yawn) would also be a good idea?
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