We've reported that Carbon Dioxide can be reduced and converted, via the Sabatier process, into oxygen, and methane, as is being done on the International Space Station, where the methane produced is dumped overboard as a means to dispose of excess carbon. We submit, and documentation is available, that NASA is studying the prospect of using Sabatier technology to produce fuel for the return leg of a journey to Mars, where the atmosphere is predominantly Carbon Dioxide. At least one of their scenarios proposes, as we've also documented to be feasible, the electrolysis of water to provide needed hydrogen for the methane synthesis.
As we've also noted, there are documented processes whereby methane, as could be produced by Sabatier technology, can be used as the basis for synthesis of more complex hydrocarbons, such as methanol.
Interestingly such use, the "reforming", of methane, can be designed to actually consume even more Carbon Dioxide, and produce a synthesis gas that is "preferred for the synthesis of valuable oxygenated chemicals and long-chain hydrocarbons". Long-chain hydrocarbons similar to liquid fuels, we presuppose.
The enclosed report is actually just one of many available resources documenting the potential for using additional CO2 to synthesize methane into more complex, and more valuable, hydrocarbons. In other words, the initial recycling of Carbon Dioxide, with methane as a by-product, makes possible the recycling of even more CO2 to create more complex hydrocarbons that could themselves be used to make liquid fuels.
The excerpt:
"Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane Over Nickel Supported Mesoporous Material Catalysts with Superior Stability
Dapeng Liu and Yanhui Yang, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Catalytic reforming of methane with carbon dioxide, also known as dry reforming, has recently attracted considerable attention due to simultaneous utilization and reduction of two types of greenhouse gases, CO2 and CH4. The synthesis gas (syngas) produced has a lower H2/CO ratio than those available from steam reforming and partial oxidation of methane; the lower ratio is preferred for the synthesis of valuable oxygenated chemicals and long-chain hydrocarbons."
If we understand this correctly, and other reports seem to confirm it, using Carbon Dioxide to process, to reform, Methane, which itself can be produced from Carbon Dioxide by the Sabatier process, actually results in compounds better-suited for additional synthesis into more useful hydrocarbon products.
Carbon Dioxide is a valuable by-product of our coal use. We shouldn't be trying to legislate the industries that generate it out of existence.