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posted by martyb on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the growing-interest dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The production of one of the key raw materials for fertilizer, ammonia (NH3) or nitrogen oxide (NOx), is a very energy-intensive process that is responsible for about 2% of all global CO2 emissions. However, it is hardly possible any longer to cut the energy consumption via current production processes since the theoretically minimal feasible energy consumption has already been more or less reached.

So the Indian PhD candidate [Bhaskar S.] Patil sought alternative methods to produce ammonia and nitrogen oxides for his PhD research, building two types of reactor, the Gliding Arc (GA) reactor and the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor. In his experiments the GA reactor in particular appeared to be the most suited to producing nitrogen oxides. In this reactor, under atmospheric pressure, a plasma-front (a kind of mini lightning bolt) glides between two diverging metal surfaces, starting with a small opening (2 mm) to a width of 5 centimeters. This expansion causes the plasma to cool to room temperature. During the trajectory of the 'lightning', the nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) molecules react in the immediate vicinity of the lightning front to nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2).

Patil optimized this reactor and at a volume of 6 liters per minute managed to achieve an energy consumption level of 2.8 MJ/mole, quite an improvement on the commercially developed methods that use approximately 0.5 MJ/mole. With the theoretical minimum of Patil's reactor, however, being that much lower (0.1 MJ/mole), in the long term this plasma technique could be an energy-efficient alternative to the current energy-devouring ammonia and nitrate production. An added benefit is that Patil's method requires no extra raw materials and production can be generated on a small scale using renewable energy, making his technique ideally suited for application in remote areas that have no access to power grids, such as parts of Africa, for instance.

[...] Apart from use at remote farms, this technique can also be used to stimulate the growth of plants in greenhouses and to store sustainable energy in liquid fuels.

The PhD research of Patil was financially supported by the EU MAPSYN consortium.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:30PM (4 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:30PM (#511321) Journal

    How many megaton per day do you pee? :P

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17 2017, @07:49PM (#511330)

    Gigaton when I mix coffee and prune juice.

  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:26PM (2 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:26PM (#511356) Journal

    I'd say about one, but I wind up drinking half of it again because "it's sterile, and I like the taste."

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 18 2017, @07:03AM

      by Bot (3902) on Thursday May 18 2017, @07:03AM (#511573) Journal

      My reasoning would be like: "If my body flushes it, there is probably a good reason not to introduce it back". But, whatever works for you peebag :)

      --
      Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @12:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @12:32PM (#511660)

      While that is true (it's filtered for pathogens), it's full of salts.
      Drinking salt water for any amount of time will screw you up.

      The ship that delivered the A-bomb to Tinian was sunk on its return trip.
      No one was keeping track of it and the hundreds of survivors were left in the water for days in extreme heat (and in shark-infested waters).

      Some couldn't stand the thirst any more and drank seawater. [google.com]
      That didn't go well.
      First they went nuts then their other bodily systems shut down.

      In a survival situation, you can recycle your pee with great efficiency using a solar-powered distillery. [google.com]

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]