Your Car Might Soon Be Able To Run On Ammonia

By Ajinkya

Published: Tuesday, July 1, 2014, 18:33 [IST]

In today's time every manufacturer is finding alternative fuels for a cleaner environment. Most manufacturers are introducing hybrid vehicles and believe that is a positive step forward. There are cars that are being engineered to work on hydrogen fuel cells.

Now certain scientists from UK have formulated a way to utilise Ammonia to run vehicles. In words it can be simply explained as Ammonia's chemical composition is NH3, which when broken down will form nitrogen and hydrogen. The procedure requires a catalyst to begin the 'Cracking' process.

These catalyst's are usually expensive and won't be effective in vehicles. The Scientists at Science and Technology Facilities Council have devided a new way of Cracking Ammonia. Their process uses an affordable solution to Crack Ammonia, where they use Sodium Amide to get Hydrogen and Nitrogen.

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The Ammonia will stored in plastic tanks in the vehicle at low pressure. It will be similar to the storage of LPG in the cylinders, however at lower pressures thus decreasing the chances of explosions. There are certain issues though with using Ammonia powered vehicles.

Ammonia when used in combustion produces NOx, which is a harmful gas to humans and the environment. Professor David comments on this, "We've even thought about how we can make ammonia as safe as possible and stop the release of NOx gases." It has been proved that Ammonia combustion can take place without the release of NOx.

The Ammonia catalyst that will be used in automobiles will be as big as a 2-litre Soda bottle. It will produce enough hydrogen to power a family car. Ammonia is not expensive and is available in plenty. It can be filled into the tanks with our existing fuel pumps. This makes it the biggest possibility that Ammonia could power the future cars.

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