Zakaria Al Balushi

Rare-Earth Catalysts for Low Temperature Production of Nitrogen Enriched Materials and Chemicals of High Value

Producing nitrogen-rich materials and chemicals typically requires significant energy. This project introduces a greener and more cost-effective option for producing these high-value materials and chemicals, including gallium nitride, a material used in semiconductors, and ammonia, which currently requires 2% of the world’s energy usage for production.

The Ammonia of Tomorrow: Less Energy, Bigger Impact

Updated January 13, 2025

By: Niki Borghei

Human society owes much of its progress to ammonia. Approximately 90% of ammonia is used in fertilizer production, which is vital for nourishing crops and sustaining global food supplies. Beyond fertilizers, ammonia is also a key ingredient in the production of plastics, rubbers, refrigerants, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products, and more. However, the current ammonia production process is both costly and energy-intensive, accounting for about 3% of global energy consumption and 1% of global carbon emissions. In fact, ammonia production consumes more energy than cement, steel, and glass production combined.

Researchers are working on more sustainable, cost-effective alternatives to traditional ammonia production. One such researcher is Zakaria Al Balushi, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His Spark Award project focuses on harnessing nitrogen gas (N₂), which is abundant in the atmosphere, to produce nitrogen-based materials without the need for the high temperatures and pressures typically required in conventional methods.

Q: How does your solution solve the energy problem associated with ammonia production?

A: We’re making use of rare earth elements dissolved in liquid metals to serve as a host for reactions to take place. And specifically we’re looking at nitrogen reduction with rare earth elements at room temperature to create atomic nitrogen that could react freely with hydrogen to form ammonia as a byproduct. And this is to be done as close to room temperature as possible, so that it could be something that would compete with the Haber–Bosch process, which is typically a high temperature, high pressure process for the production of ammonia.

Q: What sparked the idea for this project?

A: Honestly, this was all an accident. Initially, this was a project with an undergraduate in my group to look at utilizing this mixture of rare earths and liquid metal gallium to create rare earth nitrides. But we were not intending to bubble nitrogen gas into this mixture. We were going to use a plasma upstream before the gas is introduced to dissociate the nitrogen to create reactive nitrogen to do chemistry. But what happened was that the microwave generator to produce this plasma did not work, so we were just bubbling nitrogen gas directly, and then we observed changes in the melting point of the mixture and solidification process. What we found is that we produced gallium nitride from this process using nitrogen gas near room temperature.We found that these REEs were very reactive to nitrogen, and one can liberate that nitrogen from the REEs by an oxidation reaction, which is happening all in this mixture. So we have one half of the cycle for producing ammonia. What we want to do in this three year project is develop the second half of the cycle.

Q: How did you become interested in entrepreneurship?

A: When I moved to San Francisco, I was really inspired by the startup ecosystem. I started to learn more about how to translate an idea into a commercial product. I have always envisioned creating something useful out of my research. Now, I can see this project progressing in that direction, and I’m very excited about the work that I’m doing to move it forward.

Q: How has the AIC-Bakar Award supported your entrepreneurial journey?

A: This resource has been incredibly helpful in recruiting a senior scientist from the University of Manchester who has expertise in both synthetic chemistry and electrochemistry, which are the exact skills I need for this project. Thanks to the AIC-Bakar Award, a climate venture company wants to work with me on developing intelligence in finding the optimal conditions for reactions in this particular medium. The award in general has really helped me kick start this project and move it toward commercialization.