Ammonia synthesis by mechanocatalysis in a ball mill

A breakthrough in the fight against hunger, three Nobel Prizes, and 150 million tonnes of annual production—yet still a tricky topic for research: For over 100 years, the chemical industry has been using the Haber-Bosch process to convert atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, an important component of mineral fertilizers and many other chemical products. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung have now found a surprisingly simple way to produce ammonia at ambient temperature—and even at atmospheric pressure—and thus under much milder conditions than those required for the Haber-Bosch process. The reactants are passed through a mill that grinds the catalyst used to facilitate the reaction between the inert nitrogen and hydrogen. The result is a thin but continuous stream of ammonia.