Use of nitrogen, more economical

2007/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Industria

Nitrogen gas is very abundant in the atmosphere. The industrial use of this nitrogen in the manufacture of plastics, fertilizers, medicines, etc. It is expensive, as it requires a lot of energy to separate nitrogen atoms in gaseous state. In fact, the two atoms that form the nitrogen molecule have a triple bond, and normally the molecules have a single bond or two links between them. A group of the University of Cornell has obtained from the gaseous nitrogen a compound similar to hydrazine, using as catalyst the metal hafnio. The most difficult job is to break the nitrogen bonds, it does the fnio, without an excessive use of energy.