Electrolytic cell for the production of ammonia

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10309020-B2
Application number	US-201414905510-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2014
Priority date	Jul 18, 2013
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

The invention provides an electrolytic cell 10 for the production of ammonia (NH 3 ), comprising an electrolytic cell unit 100 comprising a first electrode 110 , a second electrode 120 , and an electrolyte 133 , further a voltage generator 210 , a supply 220 of a dinitrogen comprising fluid 221 , and a supply 230 of a water comprising fluid 231 . The electrolyte is configured to allow transport of protons. The first electrode is permeable for protons, wherein the first electrode is at first side in contact with the electrolyte and at second side is in fluid contact with the supply of the dinitrogen comprising fluid. The second electrode is permeable for protons but impermeable to O 2 and H 2 O. The second electrode is at first side also in contact with the electrolyte, and at second side in fluid contact with the supply of the water comprising fluid. The ammonia can be produced and stored in liquid form.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrolytic cell for the production of ammonia (NH 3 ) from N 2 and H 2 O, the electrolytic cell comprising (i) an electrolytic cell unit comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and an electrolyte, (ii) a voltage generator, (iii) a supply of a dinitrogen (N 2 ) comprising fluid, and (iv) a supply of a water comprising fluid, wherein the voltage generator is configured to apply a negative potential to the first electrode and a positive potential to the second electrode, wherein the electrolyte is configured to allow transport of protons, wherein the first electrode is permeable for protons and non-permeable for O 2 and H 2 O, wherein the first electrode is at first side in contact with the electrolyte and at second side is in fluid contact with the supply of the dinitrogen comprising fluid, and wherein the second electrode is permeable for protons, and non-permeable for O 2 , or H 2 O, wherein the second electrode is at first side also in contact with the electrolyte, and at second side in fluid contact with the supply of the water comprising fluid, and wherein the electrolyte is contained in a compartment between the first side of the first electrode and the first side of the second electrode.

2. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode comprises a metal or an alloy of one or more of Ni and Fe, or Ni, Fe, Mn, Mo, W, Cu, V, Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr, Hf, and wherein the second electrode comprises nickel metal or an alloy of nickel.

3. The electrolytic cell of claim 2 , wherein the second electrode comprises one or more of Ni, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ru, W, Cu, V, Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr, Hf, Pt and Pd.

4. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode comprises one or more of a nickel metal foil and an iron metal foil, and wherein the second electrode comprises a nickel metal foil.

5. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte comprises an anhydrous proton transporting ionic liquid.

6. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode is permeable to hydrogen gas and wherein the second electrode is non-permeable for oxygen (O 2 ), dinitrogen and water.

7. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode further comprises a dinitrogen binding catalyst and wherein the second electrode further comprises an oxygen evolution catalyst.

8. The electrolytic cell of claim 1 , wherein the second electrode has a permeability at 25° C. for oxygen of less than 0.001 Barrer, for water of less than 0.001 Barrer and for dinitrogen less than 0.001 Barrer.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a storage facility configured to store ammonia and/or a combustion configured to combust ammonia from the storage facility and to generate one or more of electricity and thermal energy.

10. A system comprising the electrolytic cell of claim 1 and a pressure device configured to provide the dinitrogen gas to the electrolytic cell at a pressure above ambient pressure, and configured to retrieve liquid ammonia from the electrolytic cell.

11. An electrolytic cell unit comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, and an electrolyte, wherein the electrolyte is configured to allow transport of protons, wherein the first electrode is permeable for hydrogen and non-permeable for O 2 and H 2 O, wherein the first electrode is at first side in contact with the electrolyte, wherein the second electrode is permeable for protons, and wherein the second electrode is at first side also in contact with the electrolyte.

12. The electrolytic cell unit of claim 11 , wherein the first electrode comprises one or more of Ni and Fe and wherein the second electrode comprises nickel metal or an alloy of nickel.

13. The electrolytic cell unit of claim 12 , wherein the first electrode comprises a metal or an alloy of one or more of Ni and Fe.

14. A process for the production of ammonia comprising feeding a dinitrogen comprising fluid to the first electrode of the electrolytic cell unit of claim 11 and a water and KOH comprising fluid to the second electrode the electrolytic cell unit while applying a voltage difference in the range of 1.16 V up to 3.6V.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein the dinitrogen comprising fluid at the first electrode is maintained at a pressure of at least 5 bar, and wherein the dinitrogen comprising fluid comprises at least 75 vol. % N 2 .

16. The process of claim 14 , wherein the ammonia at the first electrode is maintained at a partial pressure of at least 10 bar and at a temperature between 20 and 85° C.

17. The process of claim 14 , wherein the process further comprises one or more of storing and combusting the thus obtained ammonia.

18. The process of claim 14 , further comprising maintaining an ammonia partial pressure above the vapor pressure of ammonia at the temperature of operation.

19. The process of claim 14 , further comprising feeding a dinitrogen and hydrogen comprising fluid.

20. The process of claim 14 , wherein the first electrode is at a first side in contact with the electrolyte and at the second side is in fluid contact with a supply of the dinitrogen comprising fluid, wherein the second electrode is at the first side also in contact with the electrolyte, and at the second side in fluid contact with a supply of the water comprising fluid, and wherein a first fluid pressure at the second side of the first electrode and a second fluid pressure at the second side of the second electrode are substantially equal.

21. The process of claim 14 , further comprising retrieving liquid ammonia from the electrolytic cell unit from a second side of the first electrode.

Assignees

• Univ Delft Tech

Inventors

• Mulder Fokko Marten

Classifications

• C25B9/06 Primary

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• H01M8/222

  Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on compounds containing nitrogen, e.g. hydrazine, ammonia · CPC title

• C25B11/04

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• C25B11/035

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25B9/08

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic