Overview

When Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed an artificial nitrogen fixation process (the so-called Haber-Bosch process), they put ammonia in the centre of the first chemical global revolution, enabling the expansion of the population with its use as fertilisers and setting the current geo-political borders with its use in explosives. This webinar will present the technological, environmental and political challenges to enable a second ammonia revolution as portable long-term (days to months) energy storage vector versus the short-term storage (seconds to hours) offered by electrochemical storage (i.e. batteries).

Indeed, the future of a carbon-free society relies on the alignment of the intermittent production of renewable energy (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal) with our continuous and increasing energy demands. In this context, ammonia offers unique opportunities due its high hydrogen content, known handling and existing infrastructure. If/when realised, green ammonia can reshape the current energy landscape by directly replacing fossil fuels in transportation, heating, electricity, etc. In addition, new economic opportunities will arise as many countries will inevitably become net-energy importers/exporters with the outlook of a renewable energy market similar to the current one based on fossil fuels.

Speaker

Dr Laura Torrente-Murciano, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge

Dr Laura Torrente is a Reader in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. She has expertise in the areas of reaction engineering, process integration, sustainable chemical processes and energy. She is an EPSRC Fellow and a member of the UK Catalysis Hub. Her research is being supported by the EPSRC, Horizon 2020, Innovate UK and industry; with a research portfolio of over £12m. She has received the Future leaders in Engineering Sponsorship Award and the Rushlight Carbon Capture and Storage Award. She has recently co-author a policy brief document commissioned by the Royal Society entitled “Ammonia: zero-carbon fertiliser, fuel and energy store” (royalsociety.org/green-ammonia).

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Clean Energy SIG. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time

09:00—10:00 GMT.

Flyer

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Format

A one-hour online session: 40 minutes' presentation + 20 minutes' Q&A.

Software

The presentation will be delivered via GoToWebinar®. 
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You are advised to join the webinar at least ten minutes before the scheduled start time, to allow for your computer to connect.