The future of ammonia production is electrochemistry
Jun 12, 2023
Article
Ammonia is the world’s most common and widely used nitrogen-based fertilizer in the agricultural sector. Due to the exponential growth in world population over the last 140 years, the demand for ammonia continues to rise. Besides its value in agriculture, ammonia has also received significant consideration within the hydrogen economy for its potential as a viable hydrogen carrier to enable safe transportation over long distances and periods in large quantities. However, traditional ammonia manufacturing uses fossil fuel, such as methane, as the source of the hydrogen needed for the reaction. Utilization of this hydrogen source makes it responsible for 1.5–2% of global CO2 emissions, a technology colloquially defined as «grey». Commonly termed «green ammonia», electrochemically synthesized ammonia with the use of electricity from renewable sources is an interesting zero-carbon emission alternative.
Swan-H, a start-up company founded in late 2021, contributes to the decarbonization of ammonia production by fixing freely available nitrogen from the atmosphere. They are actively working on a unique nitrogen activation process patented together with the University of Toulouse and the French Research Council (CNRS). To learn more about green ammonia production and the process that the Swan-H team is developing, we interviewed Dr. Augustin De Bettignies (external communicator, CCO – Chief Commercial Officer), Dancheng Legrand (laboratory manager), and Nicolas Mézailles (research director, CSO – Chief Science Officer).
Augustin, Swan-H is a company dedicated to the novel production of ammonia. Can you introduce your team and their roles?
The Swan-H team is an international group of eight, composed of four founders and four researchers. This collection of experts includes Dr. Nicolas Mézailles – the founder of the company and head of research, the entrepreneurial chemist Dr. Steve van Zutphen as the CEO, Dr. Willem Schipper acting as CTO in charge of industrialization, and I (Dr. Augustin De Bettignies) am the business party.