Will ammonia be useful in the future?
Ammonia will continue to be used in all the areas we use it for today – especially to make explosives, to make fertilizers and for everyday cleaning. However, ammonia has the potential to become even more important in the future.
Most people know that fossil fuels are eventually going to run out and new ways of powering vehicles will be necessary. What the world needs is a new, eco-friendly and sustainable fuel that will be cheap to produce. Some scientists hope that ammonia will be that fuel.
John Fleming and Tim Maxwell are scientists who are working on a transport system based on new types of motors that use ammonia as the fuel. They propose to produce hydrogen (H2) by electrolysis extracting hydrogen from water by flowing an electric current between metal electrodes placed in water. Then they add nitrogen (N2) from the air to produce ammonia (NH3). The ammonia would be burned in a new type of internal combustion engine that would release only water vapour and nitrogen rather than the harmful green house gas pollutant, carbon dioxide (CO2), that petrol and diesel engines produce. Fleming and Maxwell claim that their process will be very efficient and that the ammonia to be used as fuel will be sold at only 5 cents per litre. They believe that one day ammonia will be available in gas stations and used to power new types of cars. However, they still have a long way to go to develop their engines before we can start filling up the car with ammonia!
For more information see: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1065841_ammonia-the-latest-fuel-technology-of-the-future.
Most people know that fossil fuels are eventually going to run out and new ways of powering vehicles will be necessary. What the world needs is a new, eco-friendly and sustainable fuel that will be cheap to produce. Some scientists hope that ammonia will be that fuel.
John Fleming and Tim Maxwell are scientists who are working on a transport system based on new types of motors that use ammonia as the fuel. They propose to produce hydrogen (H2) by electrolysis extracting hydrogen from water by flowing an electric current between metal electrodes placed in water. Then they add nitrogen (N2) from the air to produce ammonia (NH3). The ammonia would be burned in a new type of internal combustion engine that would release only water vapour and nitrogen rather than the harmful green house gas pollutant, carbon dioxide (CO2), that petrol and diesel engines produce. Fleming and Maxwell claim that their process will be very efficient and that the ammonia to be used as fuel will be sold at only 5 cents per litre. They believe that one day ammonia will be available in gas stations and used to power new types of cars. However, they still have a long way to go to develop their engines before we can start filling up the car with ammonia!
For more information see: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1065841_ammonia-the-latest-fuel-technology-of-the-future.