We have cited researchers at Penn State University, multiple times, on the utilization of Carbon Dioxide.
In a recent dispatch concerning Penn State scientist Craig Grimes, and his work on carbon conversion technology, we referenced the work of Chunsan Song, whom we have also previously cited, and then sent you a presentation made by Dr. Song, to the National Energy Technology Laboratory, on the practical science of Carbon Dioxide recycling. We also reported earlier on another of Dr. Song's technical articles: "Tri-reforming: A New Process Concept for Conversion and Utilization of CO2 in Flue Gas".
Herein, we further report that Dr. Song and Penn State, much like West Virginia University in the development of coal liquefaction technology, i.e., the West Virginia Process, has been working in concert with Chinese scientists to develop practical and commercial technologies for the recycling of carbon dioxide, based on the concept of tri-reforming raw flue gas..
We have more than sufficiently documented that Carbon Dioxide can be reclaimed and recycled into valuable hydrocarbons, and even extracted from the atmosphere itself.
One of the major cost hurdles for the implementation of such technology, though, is the actual capture and separation of CO2, especially as it emerges in the exhaust of various industrial facilities.
Although Klaus Lackner, at Columbia University, and Rich Diver, at Sandia National Laboratory, as we've thoroughly documented, present that Carbon Dioxide capture from the atmosphere can, using available environmental energy, be practical, Dr. Song focuses on the capture and utilization of Carbon Dioxide as it emerges in flue gas.
Since Dr. Song, and his associates, have been developing technology wherein raw flue gas can be utilized in carbon recycling processes, to synthesize valuable hydrocarbons, without much expense for CO2 separation and purification, it seems possible that economies can be achieved relative to the CO2 recycling techniques explained by Lackner and Diver, especially since waste heat from the coal plant might be available to help drive the processes.
In this report, Dr. Song and Penn State University, and collaborating Chinese researchers, reveal that methods are being refined, wherein raw industrial flue gas, containing CO2, can be used for the synthesis of valuable hydrocarbons without the additional expense of CO2 separation.
The excerpt:
"Tri-reforming of Methane for CO2 Conversion to Syngas Using Power Plant Flue Gas
Chunshan Song, Wei Pan, Srinivas T. Srimat, Jian Zheng, Yan Li, Yu-He Wang, Bo-Qing Xu and Qi-Ming Zhu
Clean Fuels and Catalysis Program, The Energy Institute, and Department of Energy & Geo-Environmental Engineering, PennsylvaniaState University, 209 Academic Projects Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
State Key Laboratory of C1 Chemistry and Technology and Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Tri-reforming is a novel process concept proposed for effective conversion and utilization of CO2 in the flue gases from fossil fuel-based power plants (C. Song, Chemical Innovation, 2001, 31, 21–26). The CO2, H2O, and O2 in the flue gas need not be pre-separated because they will be used as co-reactants for tri-reforming of natural gas. The tri-reforming is a synergetic combination of CO2 reforming, steam reforming, and partial oxidation of natural gas. It can produce synthesis gas (CO+H2) with H2/CO ratios (1.5–2.0) and could eliminate carbon formation which is a serious problem in the CO2 reforming of methane. These two advantages have been demonstrated by a laboratory experimental study of tri-reforming at 850C. Both thermodynamic analysis and the experimental testing in a fixed-bed flow reactor showed that over 95% CH4 conversion and over 80% CO2 conversion can be achieved by using certain supported transition metal catalysts such as Ni supported on an oxide substrate."
Again, once "syngas" is created, many things can be made from it, including gasoline.
Methane is, in this scenario, required for the utilization of Carbon Dioxide. We remind you that methane itself can, through Nobel Prize-winning Sabatier technology, as is now being employed by NASA aboard the International Space Station, also be synthesized with Carbon Dioxide as the primary raw material.
We intend presenting further documentation attesting to that fact.
Thus, Penn State's "Tri-reforming" technology, combined with NASA's Sabatier-type CO2 conversion process, might provide a "double-barreled" tool with which we can make fuller use of coal's Carbon Dioxide by-product.
