The first one has arrivedmiracle energy‘ of all time after the fusion of nitrogen and a toxic gas that we all know. The energy transition continues to gain relevance day by day due to the climate crisis we face as a planet and society. A situation that has led to measures being adopted to alleviate pollution, such as the Basque Parliament’s OK to the Energy Transition and Climate Change Law of Euskadi.
According to several reports prepared by the UN, limiting the increase in temperature to no more than 1.5ºC is an urgent issue. This would avoid suffering worse climate impacts and maintain a habitable climate. This limitation is based on the elimination of millions of tons of greenhouse gases.
However, to achieve this global transformation, there needs to be a change in the way we understand, transport and consume energy. One of the main steps is to have new forms of energy that are more compassionate to the environment.
The fusion of nitrogen with this toxic gas was unthinkable, but the result is surprising
It is in this last time that the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) and a research team, who have discovered a new way to create environmentally responsible energy.
It is obtained from different carbon elements. They have created a new system to harness the energy of ammonia (the toxic gas which we were referring to) laying the foundation on the interconversions of nitrogen and ammonia.
The scientists revealed that adding ammonia to a metal catalyst containing the platinum-like element ruthenium would spontaneously generate nitrogen, meaning no additional energy was needed, according to reports. Europa Press.
With this discovery under their belt, the team UW–Madison brings to the table the idea of a nitrogen energy economy based on nitrogen and ammonia interconversions. They believe that scientists should look for new ways to create energy from elements other than carbon and that are more environmentally responsible.
Experts say that this revelation could be a step forward to replace carbon-based fuels and move towards the goal of United Nations of the world becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
They find the ‘miracle energy’, a before and after in the energy sector
“The world currently runs on a carbon fuel economy. It’s not a great economy because we burn hydrocarbons, which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “We don’t have a way to close the loop on a true carbon cycle, where we could transform carbon dioxide back into a useful fuel,” he explains. Christian Wallenformer postdoctoral researcher in the chemist’s laboratory John Berry of UW-Madisonit’s a statement.
Experts were excited when they discovered that adding ammonia to a metal catalyst containing the element ruthenium (similar to platinum) generated nitrogen spontaneously. The translation of this process was that the use of additional energy was not necessary.
Likewise, they have reported that this process also serves to produce electricity, with protons and nitrogen gas as byproducts. Another relevant point is that the metal complex can be recycled through exposure to oxygen and used repeatedly, a much cleaner procedure than the use of carbon-based fuels.
For its part, Berrychemistry teacher Lester McNall warns: “We discovered that, not only are we producing nitrogen, we are producing it under conditions that are unprecedented. Being able to complete the reaction of ammonia to nitrogen under ambient conditions and obtain energy is a big problem.”
“We have an established infrastructure for the distribution of ammonia, which is already mass produced from nitrogen and hydrogen in the process Haber-Bosch. This technology could enable a carbon-free fuel economy, but it’s half the puzzle. “One of the drawbacks of ammonia synthesis is that the hydrogen we use to produce ammonia comes from natural gas and fossil fuels,” he points out. Michael Trenerrygraduate student and author of the article.
Future projection of the first ‘miracle energy’
The group will continue with this project. They aim to discover how to design a fuel cell capable of taking advantage of this new information. “One of the next challenges I would like to think about is how to generate ammonia from water, instead of hydrogen gas. The dream is to put water, air and sunlight to create fuel,” he closes. Michael Trenerry.
In short, the fusion of nitrogen with this toxic gas results in the first ‘miracle energy‘, an energetic path that is in full exploration and has many possibilities. Following this same line, in this other article we tell you everything you need to know about ammonia.
