A prototype reactor will turn water, air, and concentrated sunlight directly into ammonia, skipping the expensive electrolysers that other green fuel processes require. This matters because ammonia is a carbon-free energy carrier that is easy to liquefy and store, making it a practical way to match renewable energy supply with demand. But today’s “green” ammonia relies on electrolysers to split water into hydrogen first—a capital-intensive step that the UK struggles to scale. The UK Government’s target of 10 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030 looks increasingly out of reach, given high costs and overseas manufacturing dependency. This project sidesteps that bottleneck entirely by using solar heat to drive the chemical reaction directly. If the prototype works, it could de-risk a low-cost, modular, and intermittent ammonia synthesis process that aligns naturally with solar power’s variability. That would allow distributed manufacturing of a storable fuel, helping to decarbonise shipping, power generation, and heavy transport without requiring a massive build-out of electrolysers. The existing global ammonia storage and pipeline infrastructure could be repurposed, quietly reshaping the energy grid’s backbone.
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This project will demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype of a novel synthesis of green ammonia using water directly as a hydrogen source, and nitrogen (from air) building on previous EPSRC-funded research outcomes (EP/X016757/1). The main disruptive aspect of the technology is that it is driven by solar concentrated energy or efficient electricity-to-heat, negating the need of capital-intensive electrolysers. In addition, the new process will be inherently efficient, intermittent to align to the production of renewable energy, low-capital cost and modular, facilitating distributed manufacturing. The intended prototype will de-risk the technology to accelerate its future implementation. The use of ammonia as an energy vector will accelerate the achievement of UK Net Zero goals by resolving one of the key challenges: alignment of the production of renewable energy with our energy demands through a carbon-free, easy to liquify and store energy vector. Indeed, ammonia is a readily competitive energy carrier due to its high energy density, existing global transportation and storage infrastructure. However, as all other e-fuels (e.g. methanol, sustainable aviation fuels), their synthesis through conventional thermocatalytic processes require the use of capital-intensive and energy-inefficient electrolysers. Considering the UK’s overseas dependency on electrolyser manufacturing capacity and their high capital cost, the chances of achieving the UK Government’s target of 10 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030 seem elusive, making the project particularly timely and opportune.
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