Methane conversion - Patent 4544784
Not long ago, we submitted a collection of five, sequentially-issued, United States Patents awarded to Atlantic Richfield Company, ARCO, for the conversion of Methane, as can be derived via the steam-, or hydro-, gasification of Coal; or, the Sabatier-type recycling of Carbon Dioxide into liquid fuels.
And, to be, hopefully not tediously, redundant, we'll first quote, before presenting excerpts from the link enclosed above, our concluding paragraphs from that previous ARCO dispatch:
"Now, our take on all the foregoing is that these Pennsylvania scientists - Jones and all of his co-inventors are located in PA - and ARCO knew that they had stumbled on to something of genuine value, especially presuming them to have known that we can obtain Methane from both Coal and Carbon Dioxide, and wanted, through this sequence of patents, to make certain they had the technology locked up tighter than a bull's butt at fly time.
And, since they're not, as far as we know, actually using the technology, we are led to suppose that they locked it up through so many patents so that no one else could use it, either, and thereby employ Methane, derived from Coal hydro-gasification or Sabatier-type Carbon Dioxide recycling, to start synthesizing liquid fuels and eating into the profits from imported foreign oil."
You'll note, in the following excerpt, that the same ARCO scientists, "Jones", especially, are responsible for this invention as well, as follows:
"Methane Conversion; United States Patent 4544784
Inventors: John A. Sofranko and Andrew C. Jones (Newtown Square, PA)
Date: October 1, 1985
Assignee: Atlantic Richfield Company (Los Angeles, CA)
What is claimed is:
1. In an improved method for converting methane to higher hydrocarbon products wherein a gas comprising methane is contacted at a temperature within the range of about 500° to 1000° C. with a contact solid comprising at least one reducible oxide of at least one metal which oxides when contacted with methane at said temperature are reduced and produce higher hydrocarbon products and water, the improvement which comprises conducting the contacting with said contact solid which further comprises at least one halogen or compound thereof.
2. A method for converting methane to higher hydrocarbons which comprises:
(a) contacting at a temperature selected within the range of about 500 to 1000 C. a gas comprising methane and a contact solid comprising: (1) at least one reducible oxide of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Mn, Sn, In, Ge, Pb, Sb and Bi and (2) at least one promoter selected from the group consisting of the halogens and compounds thereof, said contacting producing an effluent comprising higher hydrocarbons and water and solids comprising reduced metal oxides;
(b) recovering higher hydrocarbons"
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There's a lot more verbiage in the patent itself, of course, as available via the above link. But, the foregoing should be sufficient to make the point:
This ole' Big Oil bull's got his butt clenched up with Carbon conversion patents even tighter'n we'd thought.
And, we'll close with our now-obligatory, beyond redundancy, explanation that: Methane, which can, as herein, be converted into recoverable "higher hydrocarbons", can itself be synthesized via the hydro-, or steam-, gasification of Coal, as in our most recent submission of Texaco's 1975 US Patent 3928000; or, via the Sabatier-type recycling of Carbon Dioxide.
All as we have documented in the WV Coal Association's R&D Blog; all as we will continue to document.