Sustainable Nitric Acid Production Using Non-thermal Plasma

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a new process for fixing nitrogen from air in the form of nitric acid using non-thermal atmospheric plasma with a heterogeneous catalyst. Reductions in the cost of producing nitric acid (in comparison with existing state-of-the-art processes) will lead to the reintroduction of well-established and tested methods for producing fertilizers consisting of sodium, potassium or calcium nitrate using nitric acid as the nitrogen feedstock. This will by-pass the ammonia synthesis step in the production of nitrogen fertilizers while eliminating the costly dependence of nitrogen fertilizer on natural gas.