http://www.ispc-conference.org/ispcproc/papers/685.pdf
We've earlier documented that the somewhat less-than-friendly nation of Iran has been at work on "reforming" technologies, similar to those being developed, as we've many times documented, by scientists such as Chunsan Song and Craig Grimes, and others, at Penn State University, and elsewhere, wherein Carbon Dioxide is reacted with Methane, CH4, and the two made thereby to form a synthesis gas suitable for catalytic condensation into liquid hydrocarbons.
An example would be: Iran Converts CO2 & Methane to Syngas | Research & Development | News;
"Production of Syngas By CO2 Reforming; Alieh Khalesi, et. al.; Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran; Abstract: This paper deals with ... alkali metals ... as catalysts for the dry reforming of methane to produce syngas. ... methane conversions in excess of 90% ... have been achieved."
And, we must again affirm that the Methane required for such "dry reforming", also called "bi-reforming", with Carbon Dioxide, can itself be synthesized from Carbon Dioxide, as seen in one of our more recent reports, now accessible as: Penn State Solar CO2 + H2O = Methane | Research & Development | News; wherein is described the "efficient solar conversion of carbon dioxide and water vapor to methane".
Herein, via the initial link in this dispatch, we learn that other scientists and organizations in Iran have been further refining and developing such technologies, and making the reaction of Methane, with Carbon Dioxide, in order to generate a synthesis gas, as above, suitable for such catalytic condensation into liquid hydrocarbons, even more practical.
Comment follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane via DC Corona Streamer Discharge
by: Hamid Reza Bozorgzadeh, et. al.
Plasma Research Laboratory, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, National Iranian Oil Company; and, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract: In the current study we investigate the hybrid effect of a corona discharge and alumina-supported Nickel catalysts in the CO2 reforming of methane ... at room temperature and ambient pressure.
Effect of the feed flow rate, discharge power and (specified Nickel) catalysts were studied.
When the CH4/CO2 ratio in the feed is 1/2, the syngas of low H2/CO ratio at about 0.56 is obtained, which is a potential feedstock for synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons.
Introduction: In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the global warming due to the greenhouse effect. The reduction and utilization of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane is therefore becoming more and more important.
Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of many industrial processes and available for utilization.
Landfill gas (for instance) commonly consists of 50% CH4 and 50% CO2.
Natural gas (aka: "America's Clean Energy Alternative".) contains a large CO2 content and digestion of industrial wastewater can produce methane and CO2.
In these cases, CO2 reforming of methane or the so-called dry reforming of methane, to synthesis gas may be the most effective way in utilizing these two greenhouse gases ... .
Synthesis gas, consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is an important raw material in chemical manufacture such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce higher hydrocarbons, methanol synthesis, and liquid hydrocarbons and oxygenates.
Plasma reactors are widely used for methane conversion ... . The corona plasma, which is a cold plasma, has comparatively low gas temperature, which decreases the coke deposition during the reactions.
In the present study, corona streamer discharge at atmospheric pressure combined with Ni/Al2O3, which are representative of the conventional steam reforming catalysts, was used for carbon dioxide reforming of
methane.
(It was seen that) plasma reactions usually favor to higher H2/CO ratios. Increasing Ni loadings in the catalysts shifts the H2/CO ratio to a lower ratio.
(In a way similar to other Carbon Dioxide-Methane reforming, and Stream-Coal gasification, processes we've earlier documented, the starting mix of components can, within limits, be adjusted, so that deliberate variations in the composition of the syngas produced can be achieved, in order to make that syngas more suitable for catalytic condensation into specific ranges of hydrocarbons.)
Conclusion: This investigation offers a hybrid catalytic corona plasma method for CO2 reforming of CH4, which is operated at atmospheric pressure and low temperature.
Experiments confirm that corona plasma reaction can lead to high conversions of methane and carbon dioxide."
---------------
And, such "high conversions of methane and carbon dioxide" result in the production of a "feedstock for synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons".
The Carbon Dioxide-recycling technology disclosed herein shouldn't be a revelation, if you have followed our posts over the course of the past few years, and remember that scientists in Switzerland, Israel and Singapore have been at work on very similar technology. The Swiss achievements, especially, led to issuance of a United States Patent, as seen in our report, made over a year ago, as accessible via:
Swiss US CO2-to-Fuel Patent | Research & Development | News; and wherein is disclosed:
Fuel synthesis - US Patent 6375832 Description "April, 2002; (This) invention provides for a method of transforming a normally gaseous composition containing at least one hydrogen source, at least one oxygen source and at least one carbon source into a normally liquid fuel, wherein the gaseous composition consists at least in part of carbon dioxide as the carbon source and the oxygen source, and of methane as the hydrogen source and as a second carbon source, which method comprises the steps of feeding the gaseous composition into a reactor that includes a first electrode means, a second electrode means and at least one layer of a normally solid dielectric material positioned between said first and said second electrode means, (and) submitting the composition within the reactor to a dielectric barrier discharge in the presence of a normally solid catalyst (as specified)."
------------
Again, our perception is that "dielectric barrier discharge" and, as in the Iranian report, the "corona plasma reaction" are the same, or closely-similar, processes which need only relatively low temperatures and relatively low amounts of electrical power to effect such "high conversions of methane and carbon dioxide", which result in the production of a "feedstock for synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons".
And, to belabor the point: We have known since award of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Paul Sabatier, as affirmed in Penn State Solar CO2 + H2O = Methane | Research & Development | News, that we can make the Methane needed to react, as herein, with Carbon Dioxide, from Carbon Dioxide itself.