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MIT develops AI approach to speed low-carbon ammonia production
Ammonia production uses up to 2% of global energy and produces about 1.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, a major driver of fertilizer emissions.
Ammonia production remains dominated by the century-old Haber-Bosch process, which relies on fossil fuels and contributes materially to emissions, according to OilPrice.
The outlet says researchers estimate ammonia production consumes as much as 2% of the world’s energy and generates about 1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Roughly 80% of the roughly 200 million metric tons of ammonia made each year goes into nitrogen fertilizers, while the rest is used in products such as plastics, textiles, explosives, and other industrial chemicals.
OilPrice reports that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a new method that uses AI and quantum-mechanical calculations to identify catalyst combinations most likely to reduce the energy required to produce ammonia electrochemically.
Electrochemical ammonia synthesis replaces the fossil-fuel-derived hydrogen and the extreme temperatures and pressures of Haber-Bosch with electricity, water, and nitrogen. OilPrice adds that electrochemical production is still too slow and inefficient to compete with Haber-Bosch at industrial scale, with the challenge tied largely to catalyst performance.