WV Coal Member Meeting 2024 1240x200 1 1

Carbon Dioxide Capture from Atmospheric Air

 
 
We present the attached in support of our contention that concerns over Carbon Dioxide emissions should not, in any way, slow our efforts to develop a domestic industry producing liquid fuel from coal.
 
Some excerpts:
 
"Joshuah K. Stolaroff§, David W. Keith‡ and Gregory V. Lowry*†
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, and Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213"
 
Note that some authorship is credited to Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, PA. As with the experts we have previously identified for you at West Virginia University, they, if you are interested, should be easily accessible for follow-up.
 
And, a key conclusion drawn from the Abstract, which is reproduced in it's entirety, following: 
 
"The analysis indicates that CO2 capture from air for climate change mitigation is technically feasible using off-the-shelf technology."   

"Abstract

In contrast to conventional carbon capture systems for power plants and other large point sources, the system described in this paper captures CO22 captured. A prototype system is constructed and tested to measure CO2 absorption, energy use, and evaporative water loss and compared with theoretical predictions. A numerical model of drop collision and coalescence is used to estimate operating parameters for a full-scale system, and the cost of operating the system per unit CO2 captured is estimated. The analysis indicates that CO2 capture from air for climate change mitigation is technically feasible using off-the-shelf technology. Drop coalescence significantly decreases the CO2 absorption efficiency; however, fan and pump energy requirements are manageable. Water loss is significant (20 mol H2O/mol CO2 at 15 °C and 65% RH) but can be lowered by appropriately designing and operating the system. The cost of CO2 capture using NaOH spray (excluding solution recovery and CO2 sequestration, which may be comparable) in the full-scale system is 96 $/ton-CO2 in the base case, and ranges from 53 to 127 $/ton-CO2 under alternate operating parameters and assumptions regarding capital costs and mass transfer rate. The low end of the cost range is reached by a spray with 50 µm mean drop diameter, which is achievable with commercially available spray nozzles." directly from ambient air. This has the advantages that emissions from diffuse sources and past emissions may be captured. The objective of this research is to determine the feasibility of a NaOH spray-based contactor for use in an air capture system by estimating the cost and energy requirements per unit CO

In other words, Mike, the technology to capture and remove CO2 from the atmosphere itself, it's components, at least, are "on the shelf" and commercially available. Once we have the CO2 captured, we can, as we have documented and will further document, use it to manufacture more liquid fuel.