We find it fascinating, in the somewhat horrifying way one is almost compelled to watch traffic accidents unfold, that Coal Country scientists can be quietly going about the business of solving perceived problems like liquid fuel shortages and greenhouse gas accumulations, while the Coal Country public is led into open lamentation and hand-wringing over the same issues .
Herein is even more documentation, from Coal Country scientists in West Virginia and Pittsburgh, that Carbon Dioxide, as is emitted in a small way, relative to natural sources, from our coal-use industries, is a resource that we can reclaim and profitably utilize.
The technology described by these WV and PA scientists shouldn't by now be news to our readers. Why it still waits to be news to the Coal Country public in general is a question some other people need to be asking themselves.
The following excerpt should be self-explanatory; and, all it's implications self-evident. But, we'll add some comment following:
"Title: CO2 Reduction by Dry Methane Reforming Over Hexaluminates: A Promising Technology for Decreasing Global Warming in a Cost Effective Manner
Author: Salazar-Villapando, M.D.; Gardner, T.H.
Date: March 2008
Report Numbers: OSTI ID: 936321; DOE/NETL-IR-2008-095; NETL-TPR-1852
Source: Conference: Carbon Dioxide Reduction Metallurgy at the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting & Exhibition, New Orleans, LA, Mar. 9-13, 2008
Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR
Sponsor: USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy
Abstract: Efficient utilization of CO2 can help to decrease global warming. Methane reforming using carbon dioxide has been of interest for many years, but recently that interest has experienced a rapid increase for both environmental and commercial reasons. The use of CO2 provides a source of clean oxygen, which eliminates the need for costly oxygen separation plants. The product of dry reforming is useful syn-gas, which can be used to generate electrical power in a SOFC or in the production of synthetic fuels (hydrocarbons and alcohols). Hexaaluminate catalysts prepared at NETL may represent a product that can be utilized for the conversion of CO2 to syn-gas. In this work, transition metals dispersed in barium hexaaluminate have shown to be promising new catalysts for dry methane reforming. In this investigation, a series of BaNixAl12-yO19-δ catalysts with varying Ni content were prepared by co-precipitation followed by calcination at 1400°C. CO2 reduction by dry methane reforming was carried out to determine catalyst performance as a function of temperature and carbon formation was also quantified after the reforming tests. Results of catalysts characterization, dispersion and surface area, were correlated to catalytic performance."
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So, from Morgantown, WV, and Pittsburgh, PA, we learn that "Methane reforming using carbon dioxide ... eliminates the need for costly oxygen separation plants. The product ... is useful syn-gas, which can be used to generate electrical power ... or in the production of synthetic fuels".
And, don't forget that multiple technologies exist which enable the needed Methane to be itself synthesized either from Carbon Dioxide, via Sabatier techniques, or from Coal, via gasification.
Coal Country scientists might know all of that. Why doesn't the Coal Country public?