Since we are, today, via separate dispatch, sending along report of "US Patent 6,312,660 - Process for Preparing Synthesis Gas", which describes yet another Japanese technology wherein Carbon Dioxide can be recycled in the synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons through reactions with Steam and Methane, and the subsequent catalytic processing of the resultant synthesis gas, we wanted, herein, to confirm that we can obtain the Methane needed therein for the recycling of Carbon Dioxide from, among other sources, Coal.
The Dow Chemical technology we discuss in this report actually centers on the processing of Carbon Monoxide, CO, to synthesize Methane. And, CO is really the only reactant they talk much about.
However, deep within their full Disclosure, they reveal:
"The carbon monoxide required for the process can be obtained from ... the degradation of coal."
Well, from our perspective, Coal has, in some respects, already been degraded enough.
But, if it gives us what we need to recycle Carbon Dioxide and thereby make liquid fuels, as in the process of US Patent 6,312,660, then we guess we can stand a little more of it.
Comment, concerning an interesting way to degrade Coal into Carbon Monoxide, and about how we can go about getting the needed Hydrogen to synthesize Methane from that Coal-derived Carbon Monoxide, follows brief excerpts from:
"United States Patent 4,609,679 - Producing Methane from Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide
Date: September, 1986
Inventors: Clayton Wood, MA, and Edward Gleason, CA
Assignee: Dow Chemical Company, MI
Abstract: Selectively produce methane under Fischer-Tropsch conditions using a catalyst consisting essentially of ruthenium supported on an oxide of tantalum, niobium, vanadium or mixtures thereof ... .
Claims: In a process for producing hydrocarbons by contacting carbon monoxide and hydrogen at reactive conditions, the improvement comprising increasing the yield of methane by contacting the carbon monoxide and hydrogen with (the specified) catalyst ... .
Summary: The present invention is a process for producing hydrocarbons by contacting carbon monoxide and hydrogen at reactive conditions, the improvement comprising increasing the yield of methane ... .
The carbon monoxide required for the process can be obtained from any carbon source, such as from the degradation of coal.
The hydrogen can be produced from the gasification of coal."
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First, yes, as in our report: More Pre-WWII CO2 Recycling | Research & Development | News; which details: "US Patent 2,128,262 - Carbon Monoxide Manufacture; 1938" - disclosed to be "an economical process for the manufacture of carbon monoxide of high purity by the reduction of carbon dioxide", and wherein that process involves blowing Carbon Dioxide through red-hot Coal; we can make the Carbon Monoxide required herein by Dow, to synthesize Methane, by reacting reclaimed Carbon Dioxide - and recycling it - with incandescent Coal; "the degradation of coal", as above.
Further, as in our report: Solar-Powered Hydrogen Generation | Research & Development | News; which details: ""US Patent Number 549,765 - Apparatus for Making Gas, 1895" - disclosed to be "an apparatus for utilizing rays of the sun in the manufacture of gases resulting from the decomposition of water", and wherein the process of that "apparatus" involved using focused sunlight to break apart the molecules of water and thereby produce, economically, both Oxygen and Hydrogen, we can make the Hydrogen required herein by Dow, to synthesize Methane, from Solar Energy and H2O, in addition to, as specified by Dow, "the (what we would take to be Steam-) gasification of coal".
In any case if we want and need Methane for the recycling of Carbon Dioxide, as in the process of United States Patent 6,312,660, or as in the many other CO2-Methane bi-reforming and tri-reforming technologies, such as explained, for instance, by scientists such as Chunsan Song and Craig Grimes at Penn State University, we can synthesize that Methane, as disclosed herein by Dow Chemical, with gases generated by the "degradation", and the "gasification", of Coal.