Earth Abundant Catalysis for Ammonia Synthesis

Abstract

The sustainable ammonia (NH3) synthesis is not only one of the most attractive processes but also one of the most challenging catalytic ones under ambient conditions. The exothermic characteristic of synthesis reaction and also stability and inert behaviour of atmospheric nitrogen (N-2) make the conversion of N-2 to NH3 hard, while N-2 is available in 78% in air. The industrial operations have been conducted under high temperature-pressure conditions by conventional Haber-Bosch process. The high energy requirement due to harsh operating conditions and the evolution of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2) during the synthesis make this process unsustainable for NH3 synthesis. Besides, this process has made a lot of contribution to the catalysts field for nourishing, the sustainable and novel improvements have been still looked formore ambient and green synthesis process. The low synthesis efficiency and harsh operating conditions depend on the process that has still required to be improved and attracted many researchers' interests. In this chapter, earth abundant catalysis for NH3 synthesis was gotten the point of classical and sustainable process approaches.