More from Meyer Steinberg, at Brookhaven National Laboratory, on the Carnol Process for the recycling of Carbon Dioxide into liquid fuels.
The excerpt:
"Document title
The carnol process for CO2 mitigation from power plants and the transportation sectorAuthor
STEINBERG M.Affiliation
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, ETATS-UNISAbstract
A CO2 mitigation process is developed which converts waste CO2, primarily recovered from coal-fired power plant stack gases with natural gas, to produce methanol as a liquid fuel and coproduct carbon as a materials commodity. The Carnol process chemistry consists of methane decomposition to produce hydrogen which is catalytically reacted with the recovered waste CO2 to produce methanol. The carbon is either stored or sold as a materials commodity. A process design is modelled and mass and energy balances are presented as a function of reactor pressure and temperature conditions. The Carnol process is a viable alternative to sequestering CO2 in the ocean for purposes of reducing CO2 emissions from coal burning power plants. Over 90% of the CO2 from the coal burning plant is used in the process which results in a net CO2 emission reduction of over 90% compared to that obtained for conventional methanol production by steam reforming of methane. Methanol as an alternative liquid fuel for automotive engines and for fuel cells achieves additional CO2 emission reduction benefits. The economics of the process is greatly enhanced when carbon can be sold as a materials commodity. Improvement in process design and economics should be achieved by developing a molten metal (tin) methane decomposition reactor and a liquid phase, slurry catalyst, methanol synthesis reactor directly using the solvent saturated with CO2 scrubbed from the power plant stack gases. The benefits of the process warrants its further development."Mike, perhaps the quote: "The Carnol process is a viable alternative to sequestering CO2 in the ocean for purposes of reducing CO2 emissions from coal burning power plants."
From our own, US, Brookhaven National Laboratory, we learn that it makes more sense to recycle the Carbon Dioxide arising from our use of coal, whether we burn that coal for power or convert it into liquid fuels, and use that CO2 to make more liquid fuel.
Brookhaven proposes, as have others, that methane be used as the Hydrogen source for hydrogenating Carbon extracted from CO2. Chemically, it might take less energy to make the Hydrogen available from methane, and perhaps methane's own Carbon content could be incorporated into the resulting methanol. We don't know. But, methane gas is not the only potential source of Hydrogen for synthesizing liquid hydrocarbons from CO2. As we've elsewhere documented, botanical materials can provide it; or, it can be electrolyzed from water. Other researchers have suggested the use of various, easily-compounded acids as Hydrogen donors.
And, note: "Over 90% of the CO2 from the coal burning plant is used in the process ...".
Do current CO2 sequestration technologies achieve that degree of CO2 capture? Even if they do, doesn't it make more sense to recycle the captured CO2 into more liquid fuels, rather than force our coal-use industries to pay to pump it down geologic storage rat holes, many of which are located and designed to help subsidize, at the coal industry's expense, the recovery of residual petroleum for the oil industry?
More on the Carnol Process for the conversion of Carbon Dioxide into methanol will follow. But, keep in mind that methanol, a fine liquid fuel in it's own right, can be converted, once it is synthesized from CO2, through established commercial processes, such as ExxonMobil's "MTG" technology, into gasoline.