Lasse Swärd: Island som ett grönt Saudiarabien - DN.SE
The above link will take you to "Dagens Nyheter", or, literally, we're told, "Today's News", published in Stockholm, Sweden; the March 9, 2013 edition.
"DN" is one of the two largest circulation newspapers in Sweden; which nation, even though it isn't often mentioned on the nightly news, perhaps because, like Switzerland, the wise people of Sweden scrupulously maintain neutrality in their international affairs, anyone who's ever driven, or seen, a Volvo should be at least vaguely cognizant of the fact that they are a completely modern, industrialized nation, and, are, in fact, the home and host of the Nobel Prize.
Just for the sake of entertainment, following are some very brief excerpts from the link, which we'll illuminate and translate for you:
"Lasse Sward: Island som ett gront Saudiarabien
("Lasse Sward", by the way, is a relatively-famed Swedish auto business and auto sports reporter.)
Läsarreaktioner: Vulcanol. Lägg det på minnet. Det är ett nytt bränsle som kan bli stort om man ska tro tillverkaren CRI, Carbon Recycling International på Island.Nyligen skeppades den första lasten till oljebolaget Argos i Holland för låginblandning i bensin.
Teknikens fanbärare är George Olah, som fick Nobelpriset i kemi 1994, och medlem i US Energy Security Council."------------------------
Hopefully, presuming you to have followed our posts thus far, a few items will jump out at you, such as "Carbon Recycling International", as in, for one example, our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | CO2 + Iceland = New Kuwait | Research & Development; wherein we're told: "Carbon Recycling International, Ehf, captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts carbon dioxide to renewable fuel, including renewable methanol and renewable Di-Methyl-Ether (DME). Other fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, can be derived from these feed stocks. CRI is a venture-backed Icelandic American company with headquarters in Iceland and operations in Iceland";
and, the 1994 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, the University of Southern California's "George Olah", as in:
West Virginia Coal Association | California July 2012 Efficient CO2 to Methanol | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 8,212,088 - Efficient and Selective Chemical Recycling of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol, Dimethyl Ether and Derived Products; 2012; Inventors: George Olah and G.K. Surya Prakash;
Assignee: University of Southern California; Abstract: An efficient and environmentally beneficial method of recycling and producing methanol from varied sources of carbon dioxide including flue gases of fossil fuel burning powerplants, industrial exhaust gases or the atmosphere itself. Converting carbon dioxide by chemical or electrochemical reduction seconardy treatment to produce essentially methanol, dimethyl ether and derived products".
And, what "Dagens Nyheter", "Today's News", is announcing in their above article is the start of sales of Methanol as automotive fuel, usually blended into gasoline, at some European service stations; Methanol that is being synthesized from industrial exhaust gas Carbon Dioxide.
As perhaps seen more clearly in what we're assured, although "Dagens Nyheter" doesn't offer one on their web site, is an acceptable translation into English of:
"Iceland As A Green Saudi Arabia
March 12, 2013
Recently, they shipped the first load to oil company Argos in Holland, for low level blending in gasoline.
Vulcanol is just a name for methanol, regular wood spirit. It is the production method which makes this fuel especially interesting. It is made using renewable electricity, water and captured CO2 from the nearby geothermal power plant HS Orka.
CRI sees it as a breakthrough for renewable transport fuels which are of non-biological origin.
The name Vulcanol refers to the fact that the whole process is driven by geothermal energy, but of course other energy sources could also work well.
This is the first renewable transport fuel of non-biological origin, which differentiates it from fuel from oil seeds, corn or sugar cane, says founder and CEO KC Tran.
It is no longer necessary to use limited natural resources or to disturb forests or fields in order to grow crops for fuel, he says.
The question is in what way this technology can be used in other places in the world. CRI believes that the potential is great and that the market for low blends of green fuels - that are actually sustainable - will continue to grow. The European Commission wants to limit biofuels from foodstuffs. In that context methanol from recycled CO2 is exciting to say the least, at least if you recycle CO2 from industry.
A flag bearer for this technology is George Olah, who was awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1994, and is a member of the US Energy Security Council.
Methanol was used in the US in the 1980s. Even in Sweden there was a network of fuel stations, but these plans were automatically abandoned as oil prices fell.
Today, ethanol from food stuff is the dominant biofuel. Maybe wood spirit will have a new beginning through Vulcanol.
Methanol can be made from a large variety of feedstock and can be blended directly with ethanol. In Sweden we already have a handful of interesting methanol projects, including one in Hagfors, but investors are afraid to take decisive steps. Political uncertainty is largely to blame."
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Gosh, we sure do know a lot, in US Coal Country, about that "Political uncertainty" thing, don't we?
Too bad we have too much news about that, and, absolutely none about the fact that "captured CO2" can be converted into "renewable transport fuels".
Sweden's Today's News reports that the CO2-based Methanol is now being used "for low level blending in gasoline" in at least one European nation; and, alcohols like Methanol and Ethanol can, in our current auto fuel infrastructure and automobile engines, only be used by being blended in some proportionally minor amount into Gasoline.
Keep in mind, though, that, as seen in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | ExxonMobil Coal to Methanol to Gasoline | Research & Development; concerning both:
"United States Patent 4,348,486 - Production of Methanol via Catalytic Coal Gasification; 1982; Assignee: Exxon Research and Engineering Company; A process for the production of methanol from a carbonaceous feed material (by) gasifying said carbonaceous feed material with steam ... (and) wherein said carbonaceous feed material comprises coal"; and:
"United States Patent 4,035,430 - Conversion of Methanol to Gasoline; 1977; Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation; The conversion of methanol to gasoline boiling products in a plurality of sequentially arranged catalyst beds comprising a dehydration catalyst followed by a special class of crystalline zeolite conversion catalyst is described";
once we have the Methanol, regardless of which of our abundant natural resources, whether Coal or Carbon Dioxide, we make it from, we can convert that Methanol directly into Gasoline.
And, finally, the fact that industrial exhaust gas Carbon Dioxide, on a commercial basis, can be and is being converted into Methanol "transport fuel" was at least semi-headline news in one European nation's major daily newspaper.
Don't Cap and Trade Carbon taxes deserve at least a small obituary in one of US Coal Country's rags?