Activating dinitrogen for chemical looping ammonia Synthesis: Mn nitride layer growth modeling

Abstract

The earth-abundant transition metal manganese (Mn) has been shown to activate dinitrogen (N2) and store nitrogen (N) as nitride for subsequent chemical reaction, for example, to produce ammonia (NH3). Chemical looping ammonia synthesis (CLAS) is a practical way to use Mn nitride by contacting nitride with gaseous hydrogen (H2) to produce ammonia (NH3). Here, the dynamic process of N atoms penetrating into solid Mn has been investigated. Nitride layer growth was modeled to quantitate and predict the storage of activated N in Mn towards designing CLAS systems. The N diffusion coefficient (DN) and reaction rate constant K for the first-order nitridation reaction were estimated at 6.2 ± 5.5 × 10-11 m2/s and 4.1 ± 3.5 × 10-4 1/s, respectively, at atmospheric pressure and 700 °C. Assuming spherical particles of Mn with a diameter of < 10 μm, about 56.8 metric tons of Mn is sufficient to produce a metric ton of NH3 per day using CLAS.