This invention relates to molecular catalysts and chemical reactions utilizing the same, and particularly to catalysts and catalytic methods for reduction of molecular nitrogen. The molecular catalytic platform provided herein is capable of the facile reduction of molecular nitrogen under useful conditions such as room temperature or less and atmospheric pressure or less.

Disclosed is a method for preparing ammonia gas through a reaction between an ammonium salt and a silicate. An aqueous solution of the ammonium salt in the form of atomized droplets is contacted with a silicate at a high temperature for a reaction to generate ammonia gas and a solid substance. The silicate can be solid particles, and forms a bed. The generated ammonia gas is collected, the solid substance is extracted, part of the same solid substance is mixed with a fresh silicate solid particle, and the mixture continuously reacts with the atomized droplets of the aqueous solution of the ammonium salt.

The invention provides a method of continuous electrochemical dinitrogen reduction to produce ammonia, the method comprising: supplying dinitrogen to an electrochemical cell comprising an electrolyte in contact with at least a cathode; introducing protons to the electrolyte by anodic oxidation of a hydrogen-containing species; and cathodically reducing the dinitrogen in the presence of a metal selected from lithium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, zinc, aluminium and vanadium to produce ammonia, wherein the electrolyte comprises a cationic proton carrier capable of reversible deprotonation to form a neutral proton acceptor, wherein the neutral proton acceptor is an ylide.

Improved methods of synthesizing ammonia from hydrogen sulfide and lithium nitrate are disclosed. Specifically, in a continuous cycle, hydrogen sulfide reactant is regenerated from the elemental sulfur that is extracted from a product of the ammonia synthesis, and the regenerated hydrogen sulfide is fed back into the ammonia synthesis reaction. The cycle that regenerates the hydrogen sulfide uses either a water-containing or a water and carbon-containing feedstock to facilitate the regeneration of the hydrogen sulfide from the elemental sulfur.

Disclosed is a system and method for preparing hydrogen chloride and ammonia gas by using ammonium chloride. The system includes a decomposition reactor and at least one regeneration reactor, or includes a reactor that may serve as the decomposition reactor and the regeneration reactor; ammonium chloride in particle form is continuously added to the decomposition reactor via a solid particle feed apparatus, and reacts with molten-state ammonium hydrogen sulfate to generate hydrogen chloride gas and an intermediate material; the intermediate material is discharged to the regeneration reactor, and heated therein to decompose into ammonium hydrogen sulfate and ammonia gas; and the ammonium hydrogen sulfate is returned to the decomposition reactor for recycling. The present disclosure provides an industrial feasible implementation solution for continuous decomposition of ammonium chloride, lowers volatilization of ammonium chloride by continuously and slowly adding ammonium chloride in particle form, and improves utilization rate of the ammonium chloride.

The present application pertains to methods for making metal oxides and/or citric acid. In one embodiment, the application pertains to a process for producing calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, or both from a material comprising calcium and magnesium. The process may include reacting a material comprising calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Separating, concentrating, and calcining may lead to the production of oxides such as calcium oxide or magnesium oxide. In other embodiments the application pertains to methods for producing an alkaline-earth oxide and a carboxylic acid from an alkaline earth cation-carboxylic acid anion salt. Such processes may include, for example, reacting an alkaline-earth cation-carboxylic acid anion salt with aqueous sulfur dioxide to produce aqueous alkaline-earth-bisulfite and aqueous carboxylic acid solution. Other useful steps may include desorbing, separating, and/or calcining.

Provided are: a catalyst that is used in a reaction for producing hydrogen from an alkane without emitting CO.sub.2; a method of producing hydrogen without emitting CO.sub.2 by using the catalyst; and a method of producing ammonia using, as a reducing agent, hydrogen produced using the catalyst. The alkane dehydrogenation catalyst according to the present disclosure contains a graphene having at least one type of structure selected from an atomic vacancy structure, a singly hydrogenated vacancy structure, a doubly hydrogenated vacancy structure, a triply hydrogenated vacancy structure, and a nitrogen-substituted vacancy structure. The graphene preferably has from 2 to 200 of the structure approximately per 100 nm.sup.2 of the atomic film of the graphene. In addition, the hydrogen production method according to the present disclosure includes extracting hydrogen from an alkane by using the alkane dehydrogenation catalyst.

The present application pertains to methods for making metal oxides and/or citric acid. In one embodiment, the application pertains to a process for producing calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, or both from a material comprising calcium and magnesium. The process may include reacting a material comprising calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Separating, concentrating, and calcining may lead to the production of oxides such as calcium oxide or magnesium oxide. In other embodiments the application pertains to methods for producing an alkaline-earth oxide and a carboxylic acid from an alkaline earth cation-carboxylic acid anion salt. Such processes may include, for example, reacting an alkaline-earth cation-carboxylic acid anion salt with aqueous sulfur dioxide to produce aqueous alkaline-earth-bisulfite and aqueous carboxylic acid solution. Other useful steps may include desorbing, separating, and/or calcining.

This invention describes a novel recovery method of ammonia through the electrocoagulation process, which may be applied in the industrial as well as the environmental sectors. The present invention has a significant impact not only on recovering the ammonia content from the Solvay effluent, but also for recovering the ammonia from landfill leachate and different sources of wastewater where high concentrations of ammonia can be found. This invention has economic benefits in recovering ammonia and reducing the required energy in such processes. Another impact is the environmental one, where ammonia can cause problems such as toxicity to the organisms living in the soil or water bodies, and could also decrease the concentration of the dissolved oxygen.

Disclosed are a preparation device and a preparation method of ammonia gas. The preparation device, prepares ammonia gas by reacting ammonium chloride with a particulate inorganic salt, includes one fluidized bed reactor with at least two fluidization chambers, in which one is a preheating chamber configured to preheat the particulate inorganic salt, and the other is a reaction chamber inside provided with at least one atomizing nozzle, the particulate inorganic salt forming a fluidized bed layer and reacting with an aqueous solution of ammonium chloride in the reaction chamber to generate the ammonia gas. The particulate inorganic salt can be sequentially flowed through a plurality of preheating chambers and reaction chambers under an impetus of a density difference of the particulate bed layers, finally achieving the required conversion rate.