Yesterday, we sent you information concerning: "United States Patent 7,378,561 - Method for Producing ... Hydrocarbons from ... Air; May, 2008; Inventor: George Olah; University of Southern California".
Herein, we present yet another United States Patent awarded to Nobel Laureate Olah, and colleagues, at the University of Southern California, only months later, for advances on the technologies that would, if implemented, allow us to recycle atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and, literally, make liquid fuel out of thin air.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 7,459,590 - Method for Producing ... Derived Synthetic Hydrocarbons from ... Air
Date: December, 2008
Inventor: George Olah, et. al.
Assignee: University of Southern California
Abstract: A method for producing methanol and dimethyl ether using the air as the sole source of materials is disclosed. The invention relates to a method for producing methanol by removing water from atmospheric air, obtaining hydrogen from the removed water, obtaining carbon dioxide from atmospheric air; and converting the carbon dioxide under conditions sufficient to produce methanol. Thereafter, the methanol can be dehydrated to produce dimethyl ether or further processed to produce synthetic hydrocarbons, polymers, and products derived from them.
Claims: A method for producing methanol from atmospheric air, which comprises: removing water from the atmospheric air; obtaining hydrogen from the removed water; obtaining carbon dioxide from the atmospheric air; and converting the carbon dioxide under conditions sufficient to produce methanol; wherein the carbon dioxide, water and hydrogen are obtained solely from the atmospheric air as the source material using any necessary form of energy.
Field: The invention discloses to the conversion of carbon dioxide and water (moisture) of the air as the source material to methanol, dimethyl ether, derived synthetic hydrocarbons and products there from.
Background: Carbon dioxide is present in high concentrations in the flue gases of fossil fuel-burning power plants and other various industrial exhausts. It also frequently accompanies natural gas. Many natural gas sources contain significant amounts (as much as 50 percent or more) of carbon dioxide. To mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and their adverse effects on the global climate, it considered to capture carbon dioxide from industrial exhausts and sequester the captured carbon dioxide in subterranean cavities or under the sea. However, sequestration does not provide a permanent solution because of its high cost and a potential for carbon dioxide leakage. Carbon dioxide is volatile and can eventually leak into the atmosphere. Inadvertent leaks of carbon dioxide can be greatly accelerated by earthquakes or other natural phenomena, and would have a catastrophic impact.
Methanol and dimethyl ether produced from atmospheric CO2 and H2O according to the invention are convenient to store and transport. Methanol is an excellent transportation fuel and can be easily treated to produce synthetic hydrocarbons and derived materials. It can also be converted into dimethyl ether, (which is produced by dehydration of methanol) or to dimethyl carbonate. Dimethyl carbonate can be produced by oxidative carbonylation of methanol. According to the invention described herein, all these useful fuels can be produced solely from the air.
In one embodiment, methanol is produced by catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, wherein the hydrogen used in the hydrogenation is obtained by electrolysis of pure water obtained from the air. In another embodiment, methanol is produced by reducing the carbon dioxide under conditions sufficient to obtain carbon monoxide, reacting the carbon monoxide with methanol under conditions sufficient to obtain methyl formate, and catalytically hydrogenating the methyl formate under conditions sufficient to produce twice the amount of ... methanol.
Methanol produced according to the invention can be further processed to any desired derivative or derived compounds. For example, methanol can be dehydrated to produce dimethyl ether, both of which are valuable transportation fuels. Both methanol or dimethyl ether can also be further treated under conditions sufficient to form compounds such as ethylene and propylene. Ethylene and propylene can be converted to higher olefins, synthetic hydrocarbons, aromatics, or related products, and therefore are useful as a feedstock for chemicals or transportation fuel."
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To be a bit more specific: Methanol can serve as the raw material for certain kinds of very useful Plastics, wherein all the CO2 used in the Methanol synthesis would be permanently "sequestered"; and, via the ExxonMobil MTG(r), process, Methanol can also serve as the raw material for Gasoline production.
Dimethyl Ether is a serviceable direct replacement for petroleum-derived Diesel fuel.
Plastics, Gasoline and Diesel; all from Carbon Dioxide and Water, extracted from the atmosphere itself, anywhere there might be a ready supply of otherwise wasted energy.
Think about the thick plumes of water vapor, with their wasted heat energy, arising from power plant cooling towers; and, about the Carbon Dioxide so many complain of arising from the smoke stacks that are usually close-by those cooling towers.
How many of those do we have along the river valleys of US Coal Country, would you suppose?
In any case, as herein, we could be collecting that wasted energy, that water vapor, and that Carbon Dioxide; and, be combining them all to manufacture liquid fuels and valuable raw materials.
Or, we could enact Cap&Trade taxation schemes; or, Geologic Sequestration scams - with their potential for leaks that "would have a catastrophic impact"; and, thereby deny ourselves the benefits of a vibrant Coal industry and an abundant domestic by-product supply of liquid fuels; with attendant environmental benefits.
It is our choice. But, we can't make an informed choice from among those alternatives unless we are informed that we do, in fact, have choices available to us which we can make.