More than a year ago, we alerted you that the German engineering giant, Siemens AG, had, through a United States scientist in their employ, developed a technology for the practical and profitable recycling of Carbon Dioxide in the synthesis of hydrocarbon fuels; and, had applied for a US Patent on that technology.
Our report is accessible via:
Germany Seeks US CO2 Recycling Patent | Research & Development; and centers on the details of:
"United States Patent Application 2009/0289227A1 - Production of Fuel Utilizing Waste Carbon Dioxide; November, 2009; Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Germany;
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Herein, we learn that Siemens' US Patent Application was successful; and, just this past summer, our own United States Government experts confirmed that they had, indeed, developed a practical way to convert Carbon Dioxide, collected from "an industrial process", into such seemingly-needful things as "gasoline".
And, perhaps as importantly, Siemens specifies that any by-product Oxygen, derived from the reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide and Oxygen, and the electrolysis of Water to Hydrogen and Oxygen, be sent to a Coal gasification process to help generate more hydrocarbon synthesis gas to be added to that being made, by their process herein, for recycling Carbon Dioxide.
Comment follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"United States Patent 7,989,507 - Production of Fuel ... Utilizing Waste Carbon Dioxide
Date: August, 2011
Inventor: Bruce Rising, Florida
Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (AG), Munich, Germany
Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for utilizing CO2 waste comprising recovering carbon dioxide from an industrial process that produces a waste stream comprising carbon dioxide in an amount greater than an amount of carbon dioxide present in starting materials for the industrial process. The method further includes producing hydrogen using a renewable energy resource and producing a hydrocarbon material utilizing the produced hydrogen and the recovered carbon dioxide.
Claims: A process for utilizing CO2 waste comprising: recovering carbon dioxide from an industrial process that produces a waste stream comprising carbon dioxide in an amount greater than an amount of carbon dioxide present in starting materials for the industrial process; producing hydrogen using a renewable energy resource; and producing methane utilizing the produced hydrogen and the recovered carbon dioxide.
The process ... wherein the producing hydrogen is done by electrolysis of water using electricity generated from the renewable energy resource, and wherein the renewable energy resource comprises wind or solar energy.
(See, for instance:
Chicago Hydrogen from H2O | Research & Development; which relates details of: "United States Patent 4,793,910 - Photoelectrochemical Cell for Unassisted Photocatalysis; 1988; Assignee: Gas Research Institute; A multielectrode photoelectrochemical cell ... which ... contains two bipolar electrode panels for photoelectrochemical reactions such as water photolysis to produce H2 (and) O2".)
The process ... wherein the producing hydrogen further comprises producing oxygen as a by-product and using the oxygen in a downstream process.
The process ... further comprising using electricity produced from the renewable energy resource to reduce an amount of carbon dioxide to a first amount of carbon monoxide and oxygen.
(See, for instance:
Standard Oil Electrolyzes CO2 to Carbon Monoxide | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,668,349 - Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 by Square Planar Transition Metal Complexes; 1987; Assignee: The Standard Oil Company; Abstract: A process for the electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide ... and reducing the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide".)
The process ... wherein the oxygen is utilized in the gasification of a carbon feedstock to produce a second amount of carbon monoxide, and wherein the second amount of carbon monoxide is utilized in a downstream process.
(And, for just one interesting suggestion as to how the above "gasification of a carbon feedstock to produce a second amount of carbon monoxide", utilizing the co-produced Oxygen, can be accomplished, see:
Bayer Improves Coal + CO2 = Carbon Monoxide | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,473,286 - Carbon Monoxide Generator; 2009; Assignee: Bayer Material Science, AG, Germany; Abstract and Summary: Carbon monoxide gas is ... produced ...by means of a continuous process in which carbon-containing raw materials are reacted with oxygen and carbon dioxide".
We won't belabor the obvious implications above, for even more Carbon Dioxide utilization.)
The process ,,, wherein at least one of the first amount or the second amount of the carbon monoxide and the produced hydrogen are converted to methanol via a catalytic process.
The process ... wherein the waste stream comprises an exhaust gas ... .
The process ... further comprising reacting the produced hydrogen with the first amount of carbon monoxide in the presence of the recovered carbon dioxide to produce methanol.
The process ... further comprising converting the produced methane into methanol.
The process ... wherein the produced methane is thereafter converted into syngas.
The process ... further comprising converting the produced methane into carbon monoxide and a second hydrogen supply, wherein the carbon monoxide is directed for use in the production of methanol, and wherein the methanol is produced by reacting the carbon monoxide and at least one of the produced hydrogen from the renewable energy resource and the second hydrogen supply in the presence of the recovered carbon dioxide.
The process ... further comprising converting the produced methane into hydrogen and carbon monoxide and using the hydrogen and the carbon monoxide to produce methanol.
(We submit that there are other, perhaps more intriguing ways in which the CO2-derived Methane could be used, as, for just one instance, in our report of:
Exxon 2010 CO2 + Methane = Liquid Hydrocarbons | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,772,447 - Production of Liquid Hydrocarbons from Methane; 2010; Assignee: ExxonMobil; Abstract: (A) process for converting methane to liquid hydrocarbons ... and produce a first effluent stream comprising hydrogen (by) contacting a feed containing methane and ... H2O (and) CO2 with a (specified) catalyst under conditions effective to convert said methane to aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzene and naphthalene, and produce a first effluent stream comprising aromatic hydrocarbons and hydrogen";
by "reforming" that Methane, made via the process herein, of "United States Patent 7,989,507", from Carbon Dioxide, with Water and even more Carbon Dioxide, to synthesize more even"hydrocarbons".)
Description and Field: The present invention relates to a method and system for producing fuel materials from waste carbon dioxide using renewable resources, and more particularly to a method and system for producing fuel materials from carbon dioxide recovered from a waste stream of an industrial process and hydrogen produced using renewable energy resources.
The inventors of the present invention have developed a novel method and system for utilizing waste carbon dioxide for the production of useful fuel materials. In one aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a novel, efficient, and economical method and system for producing useful fuel materials, i.e. methane, methanol carbon monoxide, syngas, gasoline products, and/or other fuel materials, from carbon dioxide recovered from carbon dioxide-containing waste streams via hydrogen produced by renewable energy resources."
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Do we have, in Coal Country, the "renewable energy resources" needed to convert our "waste carbon dioxide" into "useful fuel materials"?
Well, according to:
Hydropower: A Small but Growing Presence in W.Va. Electric Grid - State Journal - STATEJOURNAL.com; wherein we're told, that: "While West Virginia electric power generation is dominated by large coal-burning power plants, hydropower has a presence in the Mountain State, too"; and:
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; which discusses the: "Mountaineer Wind Energy Center - a wind farm on Backbone Mountain in Preston and Tucker counties in the U.S. State of West Virginia";
we do.
And, we should have plenty of "carbon feedstock" and, some say too much, Carbon Dioxide.
What we don't have nearly any of, apparently, is newspaper ink. Certainly, it would seem, not enough to print the "Truth", that:
Coal, and Carbon Dioxide, both directly and indirectly, can be efficiently converted, using energy derived from sunlight, flowing water and wind, into anything we now enrich, to our Coal Country impoverishment, OPEC and Big Oil for the supply of.
And, perhaps as bad:
Since Carbon Dioxide can, as herein, be efficiently converted into " methane, methanol (and) gasoline products"; but, no one of stature has begun to speak out against the economic victimization of Coal-based electric power consumers, through onerous Cap and Trade taxation, and, against coerced subsidization of Big Oil's secondary petroleum recovery, disguised as the mandated "geologic sequestration", of Carbon Dioxide, all to be accomplished at the expense of our vital Coal-use industries and their customers, and, no one of stature seems eager to come out publicly and speak of the "Truth", we have to wonder: