ACS “Ammonia Economy” Call for Papers Deadline Extended

The deadline for abstracts for the Ammonia Economy session at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in August has been extended to April 3.  This was reported in an interview yesterday with Martin Owen Jones, Energy Materials Coordinator for the ISIS neutron spallation facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom. Jones is the co-organizer of the session along with Michael Mock, a Catalysis Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in the United States.

The session will be the most prominent treatment of ammonia energy to date at a scientific conference held by an organization of global stature.  Jones was the organizer of ammonia-oriented sessions at two previous ACS National Meetings.  In 2015, the Catalysis Division of the conference included a four-hour session entitled “Energy Storage Applications of Ammonia: Synthesis, Storage, Cracking, and Utilization.”  In 2016, the Catalysis Division included a two-and-a-half-hour session entitled “Energy Storage Applications of Ammonia: Synthesis, Storage, Safety, and Utilization.”

Jones, who is also a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at Lincoln College at Oxford University, and Honorary Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, said that he expects the session will occupy a full day and could include 12-15 talks.

The flyer describing the session refers to “new catalytic processes for ammonia synthesis and cracking, together with parallel discoveries in solid state storage [that] have raised the possibility that ammonia could be used for large scale, distributed and mobile energy storage applications.”  Suggested topics include all phases of production and use of ammonia as an energy vector, including synthesis, storage, “catalytic cracking back to nitrogen and hydrogen,” combustion, and safety.

Jones said the idea for elevating the profile of ammonia energy as a conference topic came from attending the 2014 NH3 Fuel Conference in Des Moines, Iowa in the U.S. “While the conference was excellent,” he said, “as a chemist I wanted to see more talks on the chemistry of ammonia synthesis/storage/combustion, etc.  So I approached the ACS.”  He said he “also wanted to use the ACS as a vehicle to bring together ammonia scientists so we could plan and look to develop ammonia science.”

Jones has an extensive background of research in energy-related technologies.  According to his professional biography, his recent work “has focused on the development of systems to detect, store and utilise ammonia as a chemical energy storage medium.”

Mock is on the staff of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an “Energy Frontier Research Center” at PNNL. According to his professional biography, his current research interests “are focused on preparing homogeneous molecular electrocatalysts for dinitrogen reduction to ammonia.”

Jones said he is pleased to have Mock as his session co-organizer this year.  He explained that Mock’s presence in the world of ammonia synthesis complements his own background in the use of ammonia as an energy vector.

It should be noted that the ACS website does not yet reflect the extended deadline for abstracts.  The flyer provides contact information as follows:

• Professor Martin Owen Jones, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK. Phone: +44 1235 567236. E-mail: martin-owen.jones@stfc.ac.uk.
• Dr Mike Mock, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA. Email: mtmock@gmail.com

The ACS National Meeting will take place from August 20 through August 24 in Washington, DC.