Perspectives on NO X Emissions and Impacts from Ammonia Combustion Processes.

Abstract

Climate change and global warming necessitate the shift toward low-emission, carbon-free fuels. Although hydrogen boasts zero carbon content and high performance, its utilization is impeded by the complexities and costs involved in liquefaction, preservation, and transportation. Ammonia has emerged as a viable alternative that offers potential as a renewable energy storage medium and supports the global economy's decarbonization. With its broader applicability in large power output applications, decentralized energy sources, and industrial locations off the grid, ammonia is increasingly regarded as an essential fuel for the future. Although ammonia provides a sustainable solution for future low-carbon energy fields, its wide-scale adoption is limited by NO X emissions and poor combustion performance under certain conditions. As research on ammonia combustion expands, recent findings reveal factors impacting the chemical reaction pathways of ammonia-based fuels, including the equivalence ratio, fuel mixture, pressure, and temperature. Investigations into ammonia combustion and NO X emissions, at both laboratory and industrial scales, have identified NO X production peaks at equivalence ratios of 0.8-0.9 for ammonia/hydrogen blends. The latest studies about the NO X emissions of the ammonia flame at different conditions and their generating pathways are reviewed in this work. Effective reduction in NO production from ammonia-based flames can be achieved with richer blends, which generate more NH i radicals. Other advanced NO X mitigation techniques such as plasma-assisted combustion have been also explored. Further research is required to address these challenges, reduce emissions, and improve efficiencies of ammonia-based fuel blends. Finally, the extinction limit of ammonia turbulent flame, its influential factors, and different strategies to promote the ammonia flame stability were discussed. The present review contributes to disseminating the latest advancements in the field of ammonia combustion and highlights the importance of refining reaction mechanisms, computational models, and understanding fundamental phenomena for practical implications.