An atmospheric pressure plasma arc reactor operating in two distinct modes shows substantially different NOx concentrations; one mode produces record NOx concentrations (up to 5.5%) with an energy consumption of 2.5 MJ mol−1.

Ammonia is an industrial large‐volume chemical, with its main application in fertilizer production. It also attracts increasing attention as a green‐energy vector. Over the past century, ammonia production has been dominated by the Haber–Bosch process, in which a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen gas is converted to ammonia at high temperatures and pressures. Haber–Bosch processes with natural gas as the source of hydrogen are responsible for a significant share of the global CO2 emissions. Processes involving plasma are currently being investigated as an alternative for decentralized ammonia production powered by renewable energy sources. In this work, we present the PNOCRA process (plasma nitrogen oxidation and catalytic reduction to ammonia), combining plasma‐assisted nitrogen oxidation and lean NOx trap technology, adopted from diesel‐engine exhaust gas aftertreatment technology. PNOCRA achieves an energy requirement of 4.6 MJ mol−1 NH3, which is more than four times less than the state‐of‐the‐art plasma‐enabled ammonia synthesis from N2 and H2 with reasonable yield (>1 %).

Research in plasma reactor designs is developing rapidly as plasma technology is gaining increasing interest for sustainable gas conversion applications, like the conversion of greenhouse gases into value-added chemicals and...

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