In an earlier dispatch, now accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via the link:
Conoco Converts CO2 to Methanol and Dimethyl Ether | Research & Development; we made report of:
"United States Patent 6,664,207 - Catalyst for Converting Carbon Dioxide to Oxygenates; 2003; Inventors: Jinhua Yao and James Kimble, OK; Assignee: ConocoPhillips Company, Houston; Abstract: A catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide into ... methanol and dimethyl ether."
We mistakenly thought that US Patent, for technology which would enable us to convert Carbon Dioxide, reclaimed from whatever source, into such liquid fuels as Methanol and the substitute Diesel, DME, resulted from a US Patent Application we had even earlier reported, as in:
ConocoPhillips CO2 to Methanol | Research & Development; wherein is detailed:
"United States Patent Application 20030060355 - Converting Carbon Dioxide to Oxygenates; 2003; Inventors: Jinhua Yao and James Kimble, OK; Abstract: A catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide into oxygenates ... methanol and dimethyl ether".
We were wrong.
Application 20030060355, actually, we're now fairly certain, detailed yet another, although closely-related, ConocoPhillips technology that enables the fairly direct recycling of CO2 into liquid fuels such as Methanol and Dimethyl Ether.
And, that Application did result in issuance of yet another US Patent, to ConocoPhillips, for a very similar Carbon Dioxide recycling process and technology.
As seen in the following excerpts, from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"United States Patent 7,273,893 - Process for Converting Carbon Dioxide to Oxygenates
Date: September, 2007
Inventors: Jinhua Yao and James Kimble, OK
Assignee: ConocoPhillips Company, Houston
Abstract: A catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide into oxygenates.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/963,831, filed Sep. 26, 2001, entitled Catalyst For Converting Carbon Dioxide To Oxygenates And Processes Therefore And Therewith, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,207 on Dec. 16, 2003, and is hereby incorporated by reference.
Claims: A process for converting a carbon dioxide-containing feed into oxygenates, said process comprising the steps of: (a) contacting said carbon dioxide-containing feed with a catalyst composition comprising a solid acid in a reaction zone under reaction conditions sufficient to convert at least a portion of said feed stream into oxygenates, said carbon dioxide-containing feed comprising at least 90 volume percent carbon dioxide and hydrogen, said solid acid comprising a zeolite; and (b) recovering at least a portion of said oxygenates from said reaction zone.
Background and Field: The present invention relates generally to the conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygenates. In another aspect, the invention concerns a catalyst for converting a feed comprising carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol and dimethyl ether.
Objects and Summary: An object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide to oxygenates wherein there is an increased carbon dioxide conversion.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide to oxygenates wherein there is an increased product selectivity towards methanol and dimethyl ether.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst and process for converting carbon dioxide to oxygenates wherein the amount of carbon monoxide produced is minimized.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a novel process for preparing a catalyst effective to convert carbon dioxide into oxygenates."
----------------
We note that elemental Hydrogen is required in ConocoPhillips' technology, for converting Carbon Dioxide into Methanol, and, as we have previously documented, practical technologies exist and are available, as in:
Solar-Powered Hydrogen Generation | Research & Development | News, concerning: "United States Patent 7,726,127 - Solar Power for Thermochemical Production of Hydrogen; 2010; Assignee: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Incorporated, CA; Claims: A solar-powered hydrogen production system";
whereby Hydrogen can be efficiently extracted from Water, H2O, through the application of non-polluting, and renewable, environmental energy.
We intend to further document those potentials, for the economical production of Hydrogen from water, since they also have application in the hydrogenation of carbonaceous liquids derived from Coal, in much the same way as conventional "heavy" crude petroleum, and materials like tar sand bitumen, must be hydrogenated, in existing petroleum refineries, through long-known techniques, to manufacture useful liquid hydrocarbons.
But, as herein, once we have the Hydrogen, we can, according to ConocoPhillips and our own United States Government, through the process of USP 7,273,893, use it to efficiently convert Carbon Dioxide, recovered from whatever source, into the, as in ExxonMobil's "MTG"(r) technology, Gasoline raw material, Methanol; and, the substitute Diesel fuel, Dimethyl Ether.
Or, if you prefer, we can, through Cap & Trade taxation, sap our vital Coal-use industries, and the many US citizens who depend upon them for their livelihoods and power, into impoverishment; or, through mandated Geologic Sequestration of CO2 in leaky old oil wells, force those same Coal-use industries and US citizens to subsidize Big Oil's scrounging of last dregs from nearly-depleted natural petroleum reservoirs.
We the People should have the privilege of being informed enough to enable the making of right choices from among all those alternatives, don't you think?