Synthesis of organic compounds
We have already several times documented the Carbon Dioxide recycling expertise established, in decades long gone, by a former New York and New Jersey corporation, the M.W. Kellogg Company.
Our reports have included:
1940 CO2 + H2O + CH4 = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,198,553 - Making a Synthesis Gas Mixture of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen; 1940; Assignee: The M.W. Kellogg Company; Abstract: Our invention relates to a method of making synthesis gas and more particularly to a method of making a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide having a controllable ratio of hydrogen with respect to carbon monoxide from 1:1 to 3:1 by volume. Mixtures of carbon monoxide and hydrogen are useful in synthesizing many organic compounds and these mixtures are known to the art as "synthesis gas". Synthesis gas may be made from methane, steam and carbon dioxide"; and:
1944 CO2 + H2O + CH4 = Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 2,355,753 - Catalytic Apparatus; 1944; Assignee: The M.W. Kellogg Company; Abstract: The present invention relates generally to improvements in apparatus for effecting catalytic reactions ... of an endothermic character (for) application to the production of a synthesis gas adapted for use in the synthesis of various organic compounds, as for example, the production of a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen for use in the production of hydrocarbons in accordance with the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction. A synthesis gas suitable for use in this (Fischer-Tropsch) reaction may be prepared by the interaction of methane with carbon dioxide, or with steam, or with a mixture of carbon dioxide and steam".
We note that the Carbon Dioxide recycling processes outlined in those US Patents are very similar to the "Tri-reforming" technologies which have been further refined much more lately, and through the application of enabling technologies that weren't, simply, available back in the WWII era, by, among many others, our beloved ExxonMobil. As illustrated in:
Exxon CO2 and Methane to Syngas via Microwave Radiation | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 5,266,175 - Conversion of Methane, CO2 and H2O Using Microwave Radiation; 1993; Assignee: Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Abstract: A mixture of methane, water and carbon dioxide can be effectively converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen by subjecting the mixture to microwave radiation in the presence of at least one plasma initiator that is capable of initiating an electric discharge in an electromagnetic field".
We must further note that M.W. Kellogg realized, sometime later, that the mixtures of gases they worked with, to synthesize hydrocarbons during WWII, could, rather than being collected or synthesized separately, be efficiently generated from our abundant Coal.
As witnessed by:
1960 Improved Coal Conversion | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent 2,942,958 - Conversion of a Normally Gaseous Hydrocarbon to Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen; 1960; Assignee: The M.W. Kellogg Company; Abstract: This invention relates to the preparation of a ... feed gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide suitable for the synthesis of hydrocarbons (wherein) the gasification of coal with oxygen and steam (produces) considerable amounts of methane (which can be processed into) a feed for the Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbon synthesis (wherein) hydrogen and carbon monoxide are converted into hydrocarbons, including those in the gasoline range."
Herein, however, we further document that M.W. Kellogg continued their work on the development of Carbon Dioxide recycling technology immediately subsequent to WWII, and further demonstrated that, no matter what the sources of the gases, Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide could be efficiently reacted together and be made to form, via catalytic condensation, a variety of useful hydrocarbons, presumably including, as in the above-cited process of "US Patent 2,942,958", "those in the gasoline range".
Comment, with additional links, follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"United States Patent 2,448,279 - Synthesis of Organic Compounds
Date: August, 1948
Inventor: Louis Rubin, NJ
Assignee: The M. W. Kellogg Company, Jersey City
Abstract: This invention relates to an improved method for hydrogenating carbon oxides to produce hydrocarbons and oxygenated organic compounds (i.e., Alcohols).
The carbon oxides treated include ... carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
(Their) reaction with hydrogen to produce ... oxygenated compounds and hydrocarbons is promoted by the catalysts and reaction conditions which are effective to promote the reaction of hydrogen with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide.
As the reaction of hydrogen and carbon oxide is highly exothermic and as it is necessary to maintain the reaction zone ... at the temperature level which promotes the formation of the desired product, it is necessary to remove the heat of reaction from the reaction zone as it is developed.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved method for reacting hydrogen with carbon oxides, in which the catalyst is employed in a highly efficient manner ... while rapidly removing heat from the zones of highest reaction rate in the catalyst chamber.
The catalysts employed include those which promote the reaction of hydrogen and carbon oxides and which can be prepared in a physical condition suitable for the special manner in which the catalyst is to be employed in the improved process. Cobalt, nickel or iron ... may be used.
Claims: A process for hydrogenating carbon oxides."
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Our excerpts from "United States Patent 2,448,279" are extremely brief, relative both to it's impressive length and to its rather astonishing exposition of the detailed understanding, which obviously existed half a century ago, of how the reactions "of hydrogen with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide" can be conducted so as "to produce hydrocarbons and oxygenated organic compounds".
One issue not reflected well in our excerpts is dealt with at length by Kellogg. That is: the catalytic condensation of Hydrogen and Carbon Oxides is very exothermic, and it generates large amounts of heat energy, as in: "the reaction of hydrogen and carbon oxide is highly exothermic", which can be recovered and reclaimed through processes which Kellogg specifies in detail, and then a portion of the heat energy utilized elsewhere within the complete system, or otherwise dissipated.
We have some other suggestions.
As seen in one of our earlier reports:
New York City Reclaims and Recycles Carbon Dioxide | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent Application 20110011945A1 - System and Method for Removing CO2 from an Atmosphere; January, 2011; Inventors: Peter Eisenberger, NJ, and Graciela Chichilnisky; Abstract: A system for removing carbon dioxide from an atmosphere to reduce global warming including an air extraction system that collects carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a medium and removes carbon dioxide from the medium; a sequestration system that isolates the removed carbon dioxide to a location for at least one of storage and generation of a renewable carbon fuel; and one or more power supplying units that supply heat to the air extraction system to remove the carbon dioxide from the medium, at least one of the one or more power supplying units being a fossil fuel plant";
heat energy can be utilized, as in the above "supply heat to the air extraction system to remove the carbon dioxide from the medium", to extract Carbon Dioxide "from the atmosphere" itself.
Which Carbon Dioxide, recovered "from the atmosphere", could then be processed with Hydrogen, via the process of our subject, "United States Patent 2,448,279", and be converted thereby into "hydrocarbons and oxygenated organic compounds".
And, since molecular Hydrogen is required by that process, we suggest that it can be economically obtained either, as seen in:
Morgantown, WV, USDOE Hydrogen from Coal | Research & Development | News; concerning: "United States Patent 4,976,940 - Method for Producing H2; 1990; Inventor: Leland Paulson, Morgantown, WV; Assignee: The USA as represented by the DOE; Abstract: A method of producing hydrogen by an endothermic steam-carbon reaction using a rotating drum reactor and a pulse jet combustor. The pulse jet combustor uses coal dust as a fuel";
as a by-product of the Steam-gasification of Coal; or, as suggested in:
USDOE Algae Make Hydrogen for Coal and CO2 Hydrogenation | Research & Development; concerning: "Photosynthetic Hydrogen and Oxygen Production by Green Algae; USDOE; Abstract: Photosynthesis research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is focused on hydrogen and oxygen production by green algae in the context of its potential as a renewable fuel and chemical feed stock";
from special strains of Algae grown in "bio-reactors", which, when fed industrial exhaust gases containing Carbon Dioxide, produce, in a cyclic process, in addition to useful oils and biomass, "hydrogen and oxygen".
We note, as we have previously, that the M.W. Kellogg owner of our subject Carbon Dioxide recycling process is now a part of the Texas-based petroleum industry services company, Kellogg, Brown & Root, or, more simply, as in their corporate link: "KBR".
Keep that in the back of your mind, since we will, in reports to follow, document how KBR, the owner of such interesting Carbon Dioxide recycling and, as seen in our above reference to "US Patent 2,942,958", Coal conversion, technologies, is actively promoting and participating in activities, both internationally and domestically, with relevance to them both.