We've provided you with quite a few reports by now, originating from a variety of impeccably credible sources, that document the rather immense value waiting to be extracted from that freely-available natural raw material resource: Carbon Dioxide.
Among those reports are a number chronicling the establishment, by the company Carbon Recycling International, of a CO2-to-Methanol factory in the nation of Iceland. As seen, for example, in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iceland Methanol from CO2 in 2010 | Research & Development; concerning: "'CRI breaks ground for the first CO2 to Renewable Methanol Industrial Scale Plant in the world:' Carbon Recycling International (CRI) captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts carbon dioxide into clean Renewable Methanol (RM) fuel. RM can be blended with different grades of gasoline for existing automobiles and hybrid flexible vehicles. The capture of carbon dioxide results in a net reduction of carbon dioxide from power generation. It is a cost effective method and sustainable production of renewable fuel. RM fuel can be utilized in existing automobiles and distributed by the current gasoline stations. RM can potentially be a sustainable source of renewable fuel for Iceland and Europe. The production of RM and the harnessing of renewable energy are feasible in Iceland and in many other similar locations in the world. CRI plans to construct larger plants for export to other European countries. The ground-breaking of the George Olah Plant took place on October 17 2009 in Svartsengi, Iceland. CRI will construct an Industrial Scale Plant to capture carbon dioxide from emissions and produce Renewable Methanol (RM) which can be used to power existing automobiles without requiring new gasoline station infrastructure. Consumers will be able to fill up their tanks at OLIS, one of the leading gasoline companies in Iceland, at the end of 2010"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | Sweden Makes Public Report of CO2 to Motor Fuel Recycling | Research & Development; concerning the Swedish news agency story: "'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. 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".
And, Carbon Recycling International and their CO2-to-Methanol recycling achievements are even being acknowledged now in references with somewhat broader circulation, as seen in:
Methanol economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : "The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol replaces fossil fuels as ... ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. In the 1990's Nobel prize winner George A. Olah started to advocate the methanol economy and in 2006 he and two co-authors (G.K. Surya Prakash and Alain Goeppert) published a book around this theme. In these publications, they summarize the state of our fossil fuel and alternative energy sources, their availability and limitations before suggesting a new approach in the so-called methanol economy. Methanol is a fuel for heat engines and fuel cells. Due to its high octane rating it can be used directly as a fuel in flex-fuel cars ...using existing internal combustion engines (ICE). ... It can also be readily transformed by dehydration into dimethyl ether, a diesel fuel substitute ... . ... In addition, it can be readily converted in the methanol-to-olefin (MTO) process into ethylene and propylene, which can be used to produce synthetic hydrocarbons and their products, currently obtained from oil and natural gas. Methanol can be efficiently produced from a wide variety of sources including still-abundant ... coal ..., but also agricultural products and municipal waste, wood and varied biomass. More importantly, it can also be made from chemical recycling of carbon dioxide, which Carbon Recycling International has demonstrated with its first commercial scale plant. Initially the major source will be the CO2 rich flue gases of fossil-fuel-burning power plants or exhaust from cement and other factories. In the longer range however ... , even the low concentration of atmospheric CO2 itself could be captured and recycled via methanol, thus supplementing nature’s own photosynthetic cycle. Efficient new absorbents to capture atmospheric CO2 are being developed, mimicking plants' ability. Chemical recycling of CO2 to new fuels and materials could thus become feasible, making them renewable on the human timescale".You will note in the above references, of course, consistent mention of Nobel prize-winning chemist George Olah, and his colleagues, G.K. Surya Prakash and Alain Goeppert, at the University of Southern California, all of whom we have cited numerous times, most recently in:
West Virginia Coal Association | US Gov Confirms Coal Can Be A CO2-Neutral Source Of Power | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 8,461,215 - Rendering Coal As An Environmentally Carbon Dioxide Neutral Fuel And A Regenerative Carbon Source; June 11, 2013; Inventors: George Olah and G.K. Surya Prakash; Assignee: The University of Southern California; Abstract: The invention provides a method for rendering coal as an environmentally essentially carbon dioxide-neutral fuel. Carbon dioxide produced from coal combustion is captured, purified, combined with coalbed methane or any other natural methane or natural gas source, or with hydrogen, and reacted under reaction conditions sufficient to form methanol and/or dimethyl ether, which can be used as fuel or feedstock for derived synthetic hydrocarbons and products".Currently, as noted in our above-cited report concerning the Swedish news story, "Iceland As A Green Saudi Arabia", Methanol synthesized from industrial off-gas Carbon Dioxide is being distributed in a few nations in Europe via blending into Gasoline.
The breadth and scope of that distribution is in the process of being expanded.
As seen in excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch, the largest supplier of Methanol in the world has just bought into Carbon Recycling International's operation:
"Methanex and Carbon Recycling International Sign Landmark Investment Agreement for Advanced Renewable Fuel Production
July 30, 2013
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - Methanex Corporation ... announced today an initial $5 million investment in Carbon Recycling International (CRI), a privately held company with headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland. Methanex will also evaluate further investments to support CRI's growth.
CRI operates the world's first renewable methanol plant in Iceland which utilizes its emissions-to- liquids (ETL) technology, converting renewable energy and recycled CO2 emissions to renewable methanol.
As a result of this investment, Methanex will become one of the key shareholders of CRI, with Board representation.
CRI markets its renewable methanol in Europe, under the registered brand name Vulcanol, where it is blended with gasoline and used for production of biodiesel. Vulcanol is certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system (ISCC) as an ultra-low carbon advanced renewable transport fuel with no biogenic footprint. Methanex and CRI intend to collaborate on large scale projects based on CRI's ETL technology by leveraging Methanex's operational experience and global reach and CRI's unique expertise in the production of ultra-low carbon renewable methanol. The companies are targeting to expand the use of methanol blended fuels in Europe.
'As a leader of renewable methanol production, we are proud to be investing in CRI and facilitate the next stage of growth,' said John Floren, President and CEO of Methanex. 'The fastest growing markets for methanol are in the energy sector and we believe renewable methanol will play an important role in future applications. The CRI team has demonstrated the ability to develop this technology, operate a production plant and successfully market renewable methanol, which further reinforces the value of this investment.'
'It's a great pleasure to have Methanex join our team of shareholders and Board of Directors. Methanex's leadership position in operations, sales and in growing the use of methanol within energy applications is an asset,' said KC Tran, Chief Executive of CRI. 'Based on our experience of building and operating the first emission-to-liquids fuel plant in Iceland and the increasing world-wide demand for ultra-low carbon automotive fuels, CRI is well positioned to grow larger production plants based on our relationship with providers of Icelandic hydro and geothermal energy. Methanex's investment is a validation of our approach and will strengthen our ability to execute our growth plan successfully.'
Methanex is a Vancouver-based, publicly traded company and is the world's largest supplier of methanol to major international markets.
Carbon Recycling International (CRI) is a privately held Icelandic limited liability company with headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland and production plant in Svartsengi, near Grindavik Iceland. CRI captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and renewable energy into ultra-low carbon liquid automobile fuel".
The above is actually more significant than might be at first apparent to the news-deprived citizens of United States Coal Country.
As can be learned via:
Methanex - Our Company; "Methanex is the world's largest supplier of methanol to major international markets in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. This means every day - the world over - Methanex plays a vital role in people's lives. Methanol is an important ingredient in many of the essential industrial and consumer products that make the world a better place in which to live, work and play. Methanol can be found in everything from ... recyclable plastic bottles (to) plywood floors to paint, silicone sealants to synthetic fibres. The fastest growing markets for the use of methanol are in the energy sector including: direct gasoline blending, dimethyl ether and biodiesel"; and:
Methanex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; "Methanex Corporation is the world leader in the supply, distribution and marketing of methanol. Methanex supplies methanol to major international markets in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Methanex has a global network of operating facilities in Chile, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt and Canada. Regional marketing offices are located in Belgium, Chile, China, Egypt, Korea, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States";
Methanex is a corporation of truly international breadth and scope, with the business and manufacturing base to make a global Carbon Dioxide recycling industry "happen".
And, whether you have been, or ever will be, openly informed of it all by your commercial United States Coal Country press, as seen in:
Honeywell’s UOP wins fourth license breakthrough technology to convert methanol from coal to plastics | Honeywell UOP; "'Honeywell's UOP Wins Fourth License Breakthrough Technology to Convert Methanol from Coal to Plastics'; April 18, 2013; China petrochemical producer to build world’s largest unit using UOP methanol-to-olefin technology. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that China’s Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co. Ltd. has licensed Honeywell’s UOP advanced methanol-to-olefin (MTO) process to convert methanol from gasified coal into key plastics building blocks. ... The technology allows petrochemical producers in China and elsewhere to tap cheaper coal ... rather than liquefied petroleum gas or oil, to produce ethylene and propylene to meet growing demand for petrochemicals. All four MTO licenses have been in China, which possesses large coal reserves but imports the bulk of its petroleum. 'Jiangsu Sailboat will be able to help meet China’s growing demand for ethylene and propylene by using methanol derived from cheaper and more abundant coal, maximizing yields of high-value petrochemicals and reducing operating costs,' ... . The advanced MTO process ... converts methanol from non-crude oil sources such as coal ... into ethylene and propylene"; and:West Virginia Coal Association | ExxonMobil "Clean Gasoline from Coal" | Research & Development; concerning the ExxonMobil promotional piece: "'Methanol to Gasoline (MTG): Production of Clean Gasoline from Coal; So Advanced, Yet So Simple'; (There is a) commercially proven alternative for converting coal to gasoline through methanol. ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s (EMRE) Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) process converts coal to high quality clean gasoline when coupled with commercially proven coal gasification and methanol synthesis technology";
Methanol, no matter which of our abundant natural resources, whether, as in the above ExxonMobil brochure, "'Methanol to Gasoline (MTG): Production of Clean Gasoline from Coal; So Advanced, Yet So Simple", Coal, or, as in the subject of our dispatch herein, "Methanex and Carbon Recycling International Sign Landmark Investment Agreement for Advanced Renewable Fuel Production; CRI operates the world's first renewable methanol plant in Iceland which utilizes its emissions-to- liquids (ETL) technology, converting renewable energy and recycled CO2 emissions to renewable methanol"; Carbon Dioxide, we make it from, can then be efficiently converted on an industrial scale into valuable, commodity plastics, wherein any CO2 consumed in the synthesis of the Methanol would be permanently, chemically and productively, "sequestered"; and, also into that stuff we seem intent on squandering our national wealth to buy, and to fight foreign wars to defend our right to make such purchases, from the monopolistic, often unfriendly, nations of OPEC, i.e., "Gasoline".
It is, perhaps, telling that it was and is a major manufacturer of Methanol based in Canada, Methanex, and not in the United States of America, that has undertaken support of the Carbon Dioxide recycling, "emissions to liquids", CO2-to-Methanol process now being operated on an industrial, commercial basis in Europe.
But, maybe it's more telling that the United States press, especially the US Coal Country press, whose audience has their livelihoods and their standards of living threatened by Cap and Trade carbon taxes; and many of whom have sent their patriotic sons and daughters off to fight in Middle East and Arabian oil wars, has remained completely silent on the issue.
Sometimes silence can speak louder than words.
What, would you - - you miners of Coal; you producers of Coal-fired electricity; all of you who struggle financially to buy gasoline just to get back and forth to work every day; and, any of you who have had to send a son or daughter of to fight in the OPEC deserts - - guess that the continued silence of your Coal Country press on these issues, these facts, these truths, is speaking, is saying, to you?