K.H.R. Rouwenhorst MSc (Kevin)

An enthusiastic, open-minded engineer pursuing his PhD on plasma-enhanced catalytic ammonia synthesis at the University of Twente. Graduated from the University of Twente (MSc Chemical & Process Engineering).

Engineering & Materials Science

# Ammonia
# Catalysis
# Electricity
# Plasmas

Earth & Environmental Sciences

# Ammonia
# Plasma

Chemistry

# Ammonia
# Plasma

Plasma-enhanced catalytic ammonia synthesis

Ammonia may be one of the energy carriers for the hydrogen economy. However, the activation of dinitrogen is difficult and the conventional ammonia synthesis occurs high temperatures and high pressures (400-500°C and 100-450 bar). Therefore, alternative technologies are studied, especially for small-scale, on-demand applications.

Plasma-enhanced catalysis is an emerging technology to overcome scaling relations in heterogeneous catalysis. The bond in dinitrogen can be activated by a plasma, allowing for milder ammonia synthesis conditions. However, plasma-catalyst interactions are complex and not well understood. In the current study, plasma-enhanced catalytic ammonia synthesis is studied from the catalysis perspective.

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R. (2022). Nitrogen fixation with renewable electricity: Plasma catalysis as an alternative for small-scale ammonia synthesis? [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036554190

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R., & Castellanos, G. (2022). Innovation Outlook: Renewable Ammonia. Irena.

Sagel, V. , Rouwenhorst, K. H. R. , & Faria Albanese, J. A. (2022). Renewable Electricity Generation in Small Island Developing States: The Effect of Importing Ammonia. Energies, 15(9), [3374]. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093374

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R., Travis, A. S. , & Lefferts, L. (2022). 1921–2021: A Century of Renewable Ammonia Synthesis. Sustainable Chemistry, 3(2), 149-171. https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem3020011

Sagel, V. , Rouwenhorst, K. H. R. , & Faria Albanese, J. A. (2022). Green ammonia enables sustainable energy production in small island developing states: A case study on the island of Curaçao. Renewable & sustainable energy reviews, 161, [112381]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112381

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R., Mani, S. , & Lefferts, L. (2022). Improving the energy yield of plasma-based ammonia synthesis with in situ adsorption. ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering, 10(6), 1994-2000. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c08467

Boero, A. J., Kardux, K., Kovaleva, M., Salas, D. A., Mooijer, J., Mashruk, S., Townsend, M. , Rouwenhorst, K. H. R., Valera-Medina, A., & Ramirez, A. D. (2021). Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Ammonia-Based Electricity. Energies, 14(20), [6721]. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206721

Rouwenhorst, K. , & Lefferts, L. (2021). On the mechanism for the plasma-activated N₂ dissociation on Ru surfaces. Journal of physics D: applied physics, 54(39), [393002]. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ac1226

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R. , van der Ham, A. G. J. , & Lefferts, L. (2021). Beyond Haber-Bosch: The renaissance of the Claude process. International journal of hydrogen energy, 46(41), 21566-21579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.04.014

Rouwenhorst, K. H. R., Jardali, F., Bogaerts, A. , & Lefferts, L. (2021). From the Birkeland-Eyde process towards energy-efficient plasma-based NO_X synthesis: A techno-economic analysis. Energy & environmental science, 14(5), 2520-2534. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE03763J

Rouwenhorst, K.H.R., Van der Ham, A.G.J., Mul, G., Kersten, S.R.A., Power-to-Ammonia-to-Power (P2A2P) for Local Electricity Storage in 2025, NH3 Fuel Conference. Oral Presentation. (2018)