This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a new process for fixing nitrogen from air in the form of nitric acid using non-thermal atmospheric plasma with a heterogeneous catalyst. Reductions in the cost of producing nitric acid (in comparison with existing state-of-the-art processes) will lead to the reintroduction of well-established and tested methods for producing fertilizers consisting of sodium, potassium or calcium nitrate using nitric acid as the nitrogen feedstock. This will by-pass the ammonia synthesis step in the production of nitrogen fertilizers while eliminating the costly dependence of nitrogen fertilizer on natural gas. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this Phase I SBIR project is to quantify the specific energy required to synthesize nitric acid from air using non-thermal plasma with an in-plasma catalyst. Specific questions that we expect to answer with this research program include the following: 1. What is the nominal specific energy cost of the proposed nitric acid synthesis process 2. What other products are formed and in what concentrations 3. How do the results vary as a function of plasma power, peak-to-peak voltage and frequency of the alternating current 4. What are the effects of temperature, humidity and flow rate on the exhaust compounds and their concentrations 5. What reactive species are formed by the plasma and what are their approximate half-lives 6. How does the use of an in-plasma catalyst effect the energy cost 7. What is the projected total specific energy cost in the production of nitric acid and how does it compare to the state-of-the-art process 8. Are there plasma gas by-products that will poison the catalyst Successful conclusion of the Phase I project will provide the data necessary to project the specific energy cost of the proposed nitric acid synthesis. We will build on previous research on plasma catalysis, but with a new focus on enhancing production of the nitric acid byproduct. Successful conclusion of the overall technology development will result in a new nitric acid production process that eliminates the ammonia synthesis step, thereby eliminating the dependence on natural gas feedstock
