Issue 2, 2025

Ammonia decomposition over low-loading ruthenium catalyst achieved through “adiabatic” plasma reactor

Abstract

Electrified catalytic processes for ammonia (NH3) decomposition have been considered as essential technologies for distributed COx-free hydrogen production. Here we show that efficient NH3 decomposition can be achieved over low-loading Ru/Al2O3 using an adiabatic dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. Specifically, we demonstrate that the activity of NH3 decomposition in the adiabatic plasma reactor is up to 4.9 times higher than that under nonadiabatic conditions. The NH3 conversion was 73% (in the adiabatic plasma reactor) over the 0.05 wt% Ru/Al2O3 catalysts at a plasma power of 19 W, whereas, the conversion is only 15% when performed in the nonadiabatic plasma reactor, moreover, the catalyst was almost inactive in the thermal catalytic NH3 decomposition. Additionally, nearly 100% NH3 conversion was achieved over the 0.5 wt% Ru/Al2O3 catalyst at 19 W or over higher Ru loading catalysts at lower powers. We suggested that more efficient NH3 decomposition was attributed to the enhanced synergy between plasma-activated radicals ·NHx and vibrationally excited NHv3, and the catalytically active Ru sites when using the adiabatic plasma reactor – in contrast to the nonadiabatic counterpart.

Graphical abstract: Ammonia decomposition over low-loading ruthenium catalyst achieved through “adiabatic” plasma reactor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Oct 2024
Accepted
08 Nov 2024
First published
11 Nov 2024

React. Chem. Eng., 2025,10, 320-331

Ammonia decomposition over low-loading ruthenium catalyst achieved through “adiabatic” plasma reactor

M. R. Shawon, C. Umeojiakor, A. Griffin, J. Aguinaga, J. Wu, D. Patton, Z. Qiang, H. Toghiani and Y. Xiang, React. Chem. Eng., 2025, 10, 320 DOI: 10.1039/D4RE00509K

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