In previous dispatches, we've cited and referenced work from both the Idaho National Laboratory and the University of Alberta, Canada, on both the science of coal-to-liquid conversion, and the technologies for Carbon Dioxide recycling.
Herein, it's documented that those entities have collaborated on improving the efficient collection, the accumulation, of Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, as opposed to extracting it from point-source flue gas, and are thereby confirming the research of Sandia National Laboratory's Rich Diver, and others, who have reported similar findings.
Such developments enhance the practicality of siting Carbon Dioxide recycling facilities, using Sabatier or Carnol technologies, for instance, to make liquid fuels and raw materials for the manufacture of plastics, in locations where environmental energy - solar, wind or hydro - can be harnessed to, first, extract the CO2 from the atmosphere, and, then, to transmute the CO2 into methanol, or one of the other hydrocarbon liquid, gasoline precursors, that other research we've brought to your attention demonstrates can be synthesized directly from CO2.
Of special interest is that this report describes techniques for CO2 recovery which reduce the energy required for Carbon Dioxide collection by fifty percent, or more, thus making the recycling of carbon more efficient and obviating the need for environmentally unfriendly energy sources, such as nuclear reactors, which seem to be specified in the US Department of Defense patents on CO2 recycling, into liquid fuels, which we have earlier documented for you.
The excerpt follows; wherein, as in a similar previous report, we include their full reference list by way of further documenting the fact that the potential for CO2 recycling is quite real, and not merely a fanciful, ivory-tower concept:
"Low energy packed tower and caustic recovery for direct capture of CO2 from air
M. Mahmoudkhan, K.R. Heide, J.C. Ferreira, D.W. Keith and R.S. Cherry
Energy and Environment System Group, Institute for Sustainable Energy Environment and Economy University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA
Abstract
We used a 6.5 m tall packed tower prototype to study the capturing rate of CO2 from air. The tower was operated at a pressure drop of less than 27 pa in the packing at 0.7 m/sec air speed with a counter current flow mode and with NaOH or KOH solution as the absorbent. The tower consumed an average of 
30 kJe per mole CO2. We found that via an intermittent operation with a 5% duty cycle, the fluid pumping work reduced by 90%. A novel process for removing carbonates ions from alkaline solutions based on titanate compounds is compared to the traditional lime cycle for the caustic recovery. The titanate process reduces the high-grade heat requirement by 50%. The results from experimental data of leaching and precipitation test support process design of the titanate cycle. In this paper, we also present the chemical process design.
References
[1]J.G. Canadell, et al. Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity and efficiency of natural sinks, in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104 (47), 2007, pp. 18866–18870.
[2]N.A. Spector and B.F. Dodge, Removal of carbon dioxide from atmospheric air, Trans. Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. 42 (1946), pp. 827–848.
[3]J.B. Tepe and B.F. Dodge, Absorption of carbon dioxide by sodium hydroxide solutions in a packed column, Trans. Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. 39 (1943), pp. 255–276.
[4]K.S. Lackner, P. Grimes, H.J. Ziock, Capturing carbon dioxide from air, in: 24th Annual Technical Conference on Coal Utilization: Clearwater, FL, 1999.
[5]R Baciocchi, G Storti and M. Mazzotti, Process design and energy requirement for the capture of carbon dioxide from air, Chemical Engineering and Processing 45 (2006), pp. 1047–1058.
[6]F. Zeman, Energy and material balance of CO2 capture from ambient air, Environmental Science & Technology 41 (2007), pp. 7558–7563.
[7]J.K. Storaloff, D.W. Keith and G.V. Lowry, Carbon dioxide capture from atmospheric air using sodium hydroxide spray, Environmental Science & Technology 42 (2008), pp. 2728–2735.
[8]F. Zeman and K. Lackner, Capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, World Resource Review (2) (2004), pp. 157–172.
[9]X. Chen and A.R.P. van Heiningen, Kinetics of the direct causticizing reaction between sodium carbonate and titanium dioxide or sodium tri-titanate, Journal of Pulp and Paper Science 32 (4) (2006), pp. 245–251.
[10]E. Kiiskilä, Recovery of sodium hydroxide from alkaline pulping liquors by smelt causticizing, Part II. Recations between sodium carbonate and titanium dioxide, Paperi ja Puu, Papper och Trä 5 (1979), pp. 394–401.
[11]E. Kiiskilä, Recovery of sodium hydroxide from alkaline pulping liquors by smelt causticizing, Part III. Alkali distribution in titanium dioxide causticizing, Paperi ja Puu, Papper och Trä 6 (1979), pp. 453–464.
[12]I. Nohlgren, Recovery of kraft black liquor with direct causticization using titanates. Ph.D. Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden, 2002.
[13]M. Palm and H. Theliander, Kinetic study of the direct causticization reaction involving titanates and titanium dioxide, Chemical Engineering Journal 68 (1997), pp. 87–94.
[14]L. Zeng and A.R.P. van Heiningen, Pilot fluidized-bed testing of kraft black liquor gasification and its direct causticization with TiO2, Journal of Pulp and Paper Science 23 (11) (1997), pp. J511–J516.
[15]X. Zou, Recovery of kraft black liquor including direct causticization, Ph.D. Thesis, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, 1991.
[16]M. Mahmoudkhani, D.W. Keith, Low-energy sodium hydroxide recovery for CO2 capture from air, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, In review, 2008."
Without citation, we remind you of earlier research we've reported wherein wastes from wood and paper processing, i.e., "black liquor", as named in the references above, have demonstrated potential for being co-processed with coal and coal by-products in the synthesis of useful organic chemicals. Such co-processing with a botanical product from wood pulping mills, etc., would represent a further recycling, or use, of carbon extracted, in such cases via photosynthesis, from the atmosphere.
Also, if you recall, we recently reported on other work by Canada's David Keith, and collaborators, in the technology for CO2 recycling, as in: "CARBON NEUTRAL HYDROCARBONS", by Frank Zeman and David W. Keith.