Ammonia: ’a trump card for the energy transition process’

During his internship as a Chemical Technology student at Danish company Haldor Topsøe, UT PhD researcher Kevin Rouwenhorst realised the many opportunities offered by ammonia. At the moment, it is principally used to manufacture artificial fertiliser and therefore has a bad name. But ammonia is also one of seven chemicals that form the basis of all chemical products, and it helps to feed around 50% of the world's population. Ammonia - NH3 - as a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, is an ideal carrier of energy, particularly hydrogen. Rouwenhorst, under the supervision of Louis van der Ham, wanted to investigate this concept during his final research project in the town where he was born, Haaksbergen. Would the village in Twente be able to abandon fossil fuels and only use energy generated by wind turbines, solar panels and sustainably produced ammonia? The thesis gave him an appetite for more. He came across a PhD position with the S&T research group Catalytic Processes and Materials.