Running an I.C.E. on Ammonia (NH3) no CO2 emissions.

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JJB17463rdBombGroup
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Running an I.C.E. on Ammonia (NH3) no CO2 emissions.

Post by JJB17463rdBombGroup »

I have read up about operating an Internal Combustion Engine on Anhydrous Ammonia which is liquefied NH3 usually at 10.3 bars of pressure in a stainless steel tank.
Quite interesting as the combustion of it leaves no climate changing anthropogenic CO2 emissions since it contains no carbon atom obviously.
It is essentially a form of hydrogen powered engine.
Another advantage about it is that it has a fairly decent energy storage density but about half that of gasoline.
On top of it unlike carbon based fuels it leaves no soot so an engine can run clean.

There are some disadvantages though it has a very narrow combustion range with oxygen,it can produce Nitrous Oxide emissions as well as uncombusted ammonia emissions (though both can be minimized),it's a corrosive chemical and toxic and combustion is more complicated and difficult.
On top of it it would drive law enforcement absolutely bonkers as Anhydrous Ammonia is a crucial component in the Birch reaction to manufacture Methamphetamine.
However again the greatest advantage is no carbon emissions and that's fantastic.
Ammonia can be produced by renewable resources too like by Wind,Solar and Hydroelectric power generation.
Ammonia is also great to produce for excess energy production as a storage medium.


In addition there are usually several methods to run an I.C.E. on Ammonia.
Some methods involve mixing fuels (carbon fuels) so that the engine runs easier but this would still have carbon emissions though less so.
Another method is to disassociate the Ammonia molecule into individual atoms with high heat (at I think 500 degrees Celsius but I could be wrong) using the combusted exhaust heat to heat the ammonia at the intake.
This could require feeding a compressed tank of hydrogen to warm up the engine initially and may also be used to feed a small flow of hydrogen into the engine to help run the engine with NH3 that has not been disassociated.

An alternative is to use the Ammonia into fuel cells to generate electricity to run an electric motor instead.
Using Ammonia to run engines has been used for a very long time apparently even predating World War 2

Some links here.
A Masters Thesis which goes into a lot of detail for the direct injection method with an Internal Combustion Engine
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcont ... ontext=etd

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/a ... ng.7b02219

Ammonia powered car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hBAz6MxC4

Other searches
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ammonia ... e&ie=UTF-8

and

https://www.google.com/search?q=Solid+s ... e&ie=UTF-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia#As_a_fuel

From Wikipedia's article Ammonia powered the famous X-15 rocket plane with LOX as the oxidant.
Son of a U.S.A.A.F. 15th Air Force 463rd bomb group 772nd squadron B17 pilot.
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Paughco
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Re: Running an I.C.E. on Ammonia (NH3) no CO2 emissions.

Post by Paughco »

Good idea, except for one small thing: carbon emissions to the atmosphere are measured in terms of CO2e, which is defined by the EPA in 40 CFR 98.6 as: "Carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e means the number of metric tons of CO2 emissions with the same global warming potential as one metric ton of another greenhouse gas, and is calculated using Equation A-1 of this subpart." Equation A-1 is in Section 98.2 and it essentially is the sum of the products of each greenhouse gas emission in metric tons times the corresponding global warming potential for that greenhouse gas from Table A-1 of Subpart A of 40 CFR 98. Going to Table A-1 (https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?S ... 1&rgn=div9), we see that one metric ton of nitrous oxide is equivalent to 298 metric tons of carbon dioxide. So, substituting N2O for CO2 would not be a good thing, unless the N2O emissions were negligible.

Just sayin'. Now, let's get back to wondering when the P-51 will be released for P3D!

Seeya
ATB
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JJB17463rdBombGroup
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Re: Running an I.C.E. on Ammonia (NH3) no CO2 emissions.

Post by JJB17463rdBombGroup »

Yes it's very crucial to minimize Nitrous Oxide emissions in a direct engine method.
This is usually done through thermal disassociation of the molecule in the exhaust,recycling and/or by a catalytic converter.

However this is not necessary as a component in a fuel cell application method though.
Son of a U.S.A.A.F. 15th Air Force 463rd bomb group 772nd squadron B17 pilot.
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