In confirmation of one or two earlier reports we've made, and of references we've cited, we see herein, via the enclosed US Patent, that reclaimed Carbon Dioxide can be productively consumed and utilized, through reactions with waste organic materials, in the synthesis of hydrocarbon fuels.
Chevron, the corporate owner of the patent rights, summarizes the wastes which can be reacted with Carbon Dioxide in the following passage we've excerpted, as a foreword, from the body of the full Disclosure:
"The term "solid waste material" or "solid waste" is used herein to include solid municipal waste or common garbage, sewage, industrial waste such as sawdust, and agricultural waste such as corn husks or other discarded cellulosic material."
And, Chevron makes the value of Carbon Dioxide, in the recycling of such wastes, immediately clear, as we see in our more extended excerpts, with comment and an additional reference appended, from the link to:
"United States Patent 3,850,588 - Production of Synthesis Gas Rich in Carbon Monoxide
Date: November, 1974
Inventor: Robert White, CA
Assignee: Chevron Research Company, San Francisco
Abstract: A carbon-monoxide-rich synthesis gas is produced by feeding a mixture of carbon dioxide and an organic material to a reaction zone maintained at a temperature in the range 1,000 to 3,000F. Suitable organic materials are compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in which the oxygen content is at least 10 weight percent. Alkali metal carbonates catalyze the reaction.
Claims: (A) process for the production of a synthesis gas rich in carbon monoxide which comprises reacting in a reaction zone maintained at an elevated temperature a solid organic feed material with carbon dioxide, the improvement comprising introducing into a reaction zone ... a solid organic feed comprising chemically combined carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (and) wherein for each pound of the organic feed introduced into the reaction zone an amount of carbon dioxide in the range from 10 to about 300 standard cubic feet is introduced therein.
(And) wherein at least 30 standard cubic feet of carbon dioxide are fed to the reaction zone per pound of organic feed.
(And) wherein the organic feed is solid waste selected from the group consisting of municipal waste, industrial waste, and agricultural waste.
Description: The present invention relates to the production of synthesis gas. More particularly, it relates to the production of synthesis gas rich in carbon monoxide by the reaction of carbonaceous material with carbon dioxide.
Synthesis gas, rich in carbon monoxide, is especially useful for the synthesis of methanol. It is also useful as a feed for a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the production of hydrocarbons. Another use is the production of methane ... .
The reaction of the organic feed as herein with CO2 proceeds at a sufficiently rapid rate to be attractive for the conversion of certain oxygen-containing carbonaceous material, particularly when large quantities of CO2 are easily available for use as a reactant.
The amount of CO2 used in the reaction is preferably at least 30 standard cubic feet of CO2 per pound of organic feed material. Usually the amount of CO2 added is between 10 and 300 standard cubic feet per pound of organic feed material.
It is particularly preferred to carry out the reaction of CO2 with the oxygen-containing organic feed material in the presence of an alkali metal catalyst, preferably a carbonate, such as potassium carbonate or sodium carbonate. I have found that a catalyst such as potassium carbonate greatly accelerates the reaction rate of the carbon dioxide with the oxygen-containing organic feed material."
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Now, let's be clear: Chevron is, herein, utilizing Carbon Dioxide to recycle "organic feed material", such as "municipal waste, industrial waste, and agricultural waste", much of which has already, through photosynthesis, recycled a significant amount of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.
And, the amount of concentrated CO2 that can be so utilized, in combination with those organic wastes, is potentially significant, as Chevron reveals in their specification that: "at least 30 standard cubic feet (up to) 300 standard cubic feet" of Carbon Dioxide gas can be consumed "per pound of organic feed", which feed would include, for instance, "discarded cellulosic material".
According to multiple web-based references, one cubic foot of Carbon Dioxide, assuming normal ambient conditions of temperature and pressure, will weigh a little more than one tenth of a pound.
Thus, anywhere from 3 to 30 pounds of reclaimed Carbon Dioxide can be reacted with, roughly, each pound of a reclaimed organic material, such as, as above, "agricultural waste", including things like "sawdust" and "corn husks", and made thereby to generate, again as above, a "gas ...especially useful for the synthesis of methanol".
Moreover, they utilize "a carbonate, such as potassium carbonate or sodium carbonate" to catalyze the reaction between gaseous Carbon Dioxide and that Carbon Dioxide-recycling "organic feed material".
We can make all of the "sodium carbonate" we might ever want, to catalyze the reactions between Carbon Dioxide and those Carbon Dioxide-recycling organics, by scrubbing Carbon Dioxide out of a Coal-fired power plant's exhaust, as in typical proposals for such installations, with Sodium Hydroxide, i.e., plain old lye; which can be, in the reaction with CO2, converted into, among other things, "sodium carbonate".
And, the products of such three-way combined Carbon Dioxide recycling would, with follow-on processing, include, as in our excerpts above: "methanol (and) hydrocarbons (and) methane".
Methane, so produced, as seen herein, from CO2 and Carbon-recycling renewable wastes, we remind you, could then be reacted, in tri-reforming and bi-reforming reactions, such as we've earlier documented, and as explained best for us so far by scientists Chunsan Song and Craig Grimes at Penn State University, with even more Carbon Dioxide, in a process that yields even more Methanol and hydrocarbons.
And, we further remind you, as in our earlier report, now posted on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site as: Texaco CO2 + Coal = Hydrocarbon Synthesis Gas | Research & Development | News; which concerns: "United States Patent 3,976,442 - Synthesis Gas from Gaseous CO2-Solid Carbonaceous Fuel Feeds; 1976; Assignee: Texaco, Incorporated; Abstract: This is an improved continuous partial oxidation process for producing synthesis gas or fuel gas from gaseous CO2 (and) solid carbonaceous fuel ... such as finely ground coal"; - that Coal, as well as CO2-recycling organic wastes, can be similarly reacted with reclaimed Carbon Dioxide and made thereby to generate Methanol and hydrocarbon synthesis gas.
And, even further, we remind you as well that Texaco, who, as immediately above, could make syngas by reacting Coal with Carbon Dioxide, was, in 2001, assimilated by Chevron.
In sum: Carbon Dioxide, as arises in a small way, relative to natural sources of emission such as volcanism, from our varied and productive uses of Coal, is a valuable raw material resource.
Carbon Dioxide, as herein, can be both directly and indirectly recycled, in a combined process that utilizes both Carbon Dioxide and Carbon-recycling wastes, such as ""discarded cellulosic material", to generate a "gas, rich in carbon monoxide" that "is especially useful for the synthesis of methanol" and other "gaseous and liquid hydrocarbon fuels".