US Government Hires Princeton to Convert CO2 into Methanol

United States Patent: 8663447

Looking back, we've made quite a few reports to you by now documenting the plain fact that Princeton University, primarily through the team of Professor Andrew Bocarsly and his former student, now-Doctor Emily Barton Cole, has established the technology by which Carbon Dioxide, as recovered from whatever handy source, can be directly and efficiently converted into a number of valuable products, including several different fuel alcohols. 

So notable are their achievements in the field of Carbon Dioxide utilization that, as seen for example in:

CO2 Makes Renewable Natural Gas Feasible

Making renewable energy feasible | UChicagoTech

First, we remind you of one previous dispatch from very nearly two years ago, as accessible via:

Chicago Bugs Convert CO2 into Methane | Research & Development | News; concerning: "United States Patent Application 20090130734 - The Production of Methane from CO2; May, 2009; Inventor: Laurens Mets, Chicago; (Probable Assignee of Rights: University of Chicago); Abstract: A method of converting CO2 gas produced during industrial processes comprising contacting methanogenic archaea with the CO2 gas under suitable conditions to produce methane. Claims: A method of converting carbon dioxide produced during an industrial process to methane comprising: a) preparing a culture of hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea in a bioreactor; b) supplying an output gas from an industrial process to the bioreactor; wherein the output gas comprises Carbon Dioxide and between 0.02% and 6.7% oxygen; and: c) wherein the hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea converts the output gas to continuously produce methane. The method ... wherein the culture is a substantially pure culture of one hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea species.  The method ...  wherein H2 is supplied in an amount to maintain a redox potential in the bioreactor (and) wherein no additional constituent other than the H2 gas is added to the bioreactor to maintain the redox potential in the bioreactor under -100 mV or less. The method ... wherein the industrial process is coal gasification";

USDOE Reforms Coal Syngas CO2 for Hydrocarbon Synthesis

United States Patent: 8366902

We've many times documented that Coal, along with many and various sorts of naturally Carbon-recycling biological material, can be "gasified", in a process of partial oxidation or limited combustion, and be converted thereby into a blend of, primarily, Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, that is, a hydrocarbon synthesis gas, or "syngas", which can then be catalytically, chemically condensed, as via the long-known and still-practiced Fischer-Tropsch process, into gaseous and liquid hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.

Saudi Arabia Converts Exhaust Gas CO2 into Hydrocarbons

United States Patent: 8596047

We first noticed the exposition of Saudi Arabian CO2-to-fuel technology we bring to you herein back when it was "just" a United States Patent Application.

And, even though, as seen for one example in:

Texaco Coal to Synthetic Fuels and Electrical Power

United States Patent: 4099383
We've documented a number of times, over the long course of our reportage, that it is perfectly feasible to co-generate both hydrocarbon fuels or chemicals of various sorts and electrical power, in the same industrial facility, from Coal.

Such "co-generation" facilities rely on indirect methods of converting Coal into hydrocarbons, wherein Coal is first gasified, through a process of partial oxidation, or limited combustion, and made to form a blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, that is, "synthesis gas", or "syngas", which syngas can be chemically, catalytically condensed, as via the long-known Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for just one example, into a full range of both liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.