Ammonia batteries include a family of batteries that use an ammonia electrolyte solvent. They were originally constructed to satisfy the need for a long storage, low-powered battery with an operating life of several weeks. The ammonia battery illustrated in Figure 1 uses the magnesium/meta-dinitrobenzene (Mg/m-DNB) system.
Unlike other batteries, however, the ammonia electrolyte is only used as an anolyte (electrolyte surrounding an anode) that reacts with the copper electrode as the ammonia is heated, generating electricity. The reaction of the ammonia with heat on the copper electrode, however, can only last so long.
Additionally, the success of ammonia batteries stands to benefit the energy storage and production industry as a whole by providing a reliable and sustainable means of accessing clean electricity. 1. How much of the following technologies is hype and how much is substance?
Beyond that, ammonia could be converted into electricity in a power plant customized to burn ammonia, or in a traditional fuel cell, as the South Australia plant plans to do. But currently, ammonia's highest value is as a rich source of hydrogen, used to power fuel cell vehicles.
The Thermally Regenerative Ammonia Battery (TRAB) created by the Penn State engineers is designed to capture this waste heat, wring out its remaining energy and store it for later use.
In pursuit of this goal, engineers at Pennsylvania State University have produced an ammonia-based battery that not only captures and converts waste heat economically and efficiently, but is claimed to do so at a greater capacity than other similar systems.