"Tsubame BHB Co., Ltd.", a new company aiming to put the world's first "on-site" ammonia synthesis system into practical use, started its business on April 2017, 4.On-site production is a method of producing the required amount of ammonia in the required place, and uses the catalyst invented by the research group of Professor Hideo Hosono, Director of the Element Strategy Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology.The new company will be established by UMI No. 25 Investment Limited Partnership, which is managed and operated by Ajinomoto Co., Inc. and Universal Materials Incubator Co., Ltd. (UMI), with the support of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Professor Hosono. bottom.
Currently, ammonia is mainly produced using the Haber-Bosch (HB) method, which was invented over 100 years ago. The HB method is a very excellent production technology that can synthesize ammonia only with nitrogen in the air and hydrogen obtained from natural gas, etc., and is widely used all over the world.
However, the HB method requires high-temperature and high-pressure reaction conditions, and must be concentrated and mass-produced in a large plant with a high energy load, resulting in high capital investment.Furthermore, in order to transport ammonia from production bases to demand areas scattered all over the world, dedicated transportation equipment and storage equipment are required, so the distribution cost is extremely high.
To solve these problems, Professor Hosono and his colleagues discovered and invented a catalyst that is completely different from the catalyst of the HB method, which enables highly efficient ammonia synthesis under low temperature and low pressure conditions.Due to the low temperature and low pressure reaction conditions, it is possible to produce in a small plant, which has been considered difficult in the past.
With this technology, the world's first on-site ammonia production will be put into practical use by around 2021, and it will be used for cheap and stable supply of fermentation auxiliary materials such as amino acids made from ammonia, and for agricultural fertilizers.
