Plasma‐Based NH 3 Cracking: A Better Insight in the Performance by Chemical Kinetics Modeling
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines performance characteristics of (warm‐)plasma‐based NH 3 cracking using a detailed plasma chemical kinetics model across a wide range of gas temperatures ( T g = 1000–6000 K) and electron temperatures ( T e = 0–3.5 eV, i.e., 0–40,000 K). NH 3 conversion increases with both temperatures, but the T g ‐dependence flattens near full conversion. Pure thermal cracking reaches full conversion at 2300 K and 10 ms, while plasma achieves full conversion at T e > 2.75 eV for all T g , even the lowest T g values investigated. At T g < 2700 K, high T e dramatically reduces the time for full conversion, for example, from thousands of years (thermal) to milliseconds (plasma) at T g = 1100 K, while differences vanish at T g > 2700 K. Product composition follows thermal equilibrium, showing negligible T e influence. Importantly, we also suggest strategies for performance improvement. The best energy cost for typical warm plasmas with continuous power is predicted to be 197 kJ/mol‐NH 3 at 2500 K, where thermal pathways dominate. Reducing vibrational energy losses suggests potential improvement at T g ≈1500 K, predicting an energy cost of 157 kJ/mol‐NH 3 , for so‐called “plasma‐initialized” thermal cracking. Further reduction in energy cost should be feasible via heat recovery. Overall, our model shows that plasma cracking offers rapid NH 3 conversion with reasonable energy cost.
Source: ChemSusChem
Institutions: University of Antwerp, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4416931973