Reversed Plasma Catalysis Process Design for Efficient Ammonia Decomposition

An innovative process design for ammonia decomposition through reversed plasma catalysis is proposed. Reversed plasma catalysis involves a partial thermocatalytic conversion of the ammonia feed prior to a warm plasma conversion process of residual ammonia. Lab-scale experiments confirm the potential to achieve 98.2% ammonia conversion using a ruthenium-based catalyst in combination with a Gliding Arc Plasmatron (GAP). Process modeling reveals an efficiency gain of using the excess heat available from the warm plasma reactor to support the endothermic thermocatalytic ammonia cracking. In this study, the reversed plasma catalysis process was compared to thermocatalysis and plasma catalysis process designs under identical reactor conditions, revealing similar energy and exergy efficiency for plasma catalysis and reversed plasma catalysis. The significant advantage of reversed plasma catalysis is the major catalyst savings up to 60% compared to plasma catalysis and thermocatalysis. These catalyst savings also reduce the reactor size, making reversed plasma catalysis a promising approach for efficient ammonia decomposition.