US Patent: CO2 to Fuels

 
The link will lead you to a full disclosure of this United States patent, issued just a few years ago to researchers from Korea.
 
In sum, to repeat the link headline, it is:
 
US Patent 6248795 - Process of preparing a mixture of dimethyl ether and methanol from carbon dioxide.
 
The inventors are Ki Won Jun and Kyu Wan Lee, who have assigned the patent to The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.
 
An excerpt:
 
"This invention relates to the process of preparing from carbon dioxide a mixture of dimethyl ether and methanol which are useful as clean purifying fuel or raw materials in the chemical industry."
 
If you will recall, there are a number of US Patents in this arena, including one awarded, many decades ago, to one Lewis Karrick, for the manufacture of liquid petroleum --- from coal.
 
And, it might be gratuitous to add that Exxon-Mobil have a patented, trademarked process, "MTG", as we've documented, for converting methanol into gasoline.

Hydrogenation of CO2



We know that our dispatches on the subject of reclaiming and recycling the Carbon Dioxide arising from our use of coal - whether the coal is employed for power generation or liquid fuel and chemical manufacture - have been compendious. We feel they have to be. So much popular press has been devoted to the demonization of coal, and the by-products of it's use, that a veritable ocean of true scientific literature will have to be presented to overcome the effects of the lies and make plain the truth of the matter.
 
Not only can coal be economically and cleanly transmuted into needed liquid fuel, the by-products of that transmutation are themselves valuable raw material resources.
 
As additional evidence, we submit this enclosed article and the appended comment: 

"Titre du document / Document title

Hydrogenation of carbon dioxide over Fe-Cu-Na/zeolite composite catalysts : Na migration via solid-solid reaction and its effects on the catalytic activity

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

QIANG XU (1) ; DEHUA HE ; FUJIWARA M. ; TANAKA M.; SOUMA Y.; YAMANAKA H.
 
Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s) Osaka National Research Institute, AIST, MITI, 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563, JAPON

Résumé / Abstract

Composite catalysts containing zeolites and Na-rich Fe-Cu Fischer-Tropsch catalysts (all of which we've previously described and documented as coal-to-liquid catalysts - JtM) were studied for the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide at 250°C. Sodium migration from the surface of the F-T catalyst to the zeolite via solid-solid reaction seemed to change the acidity of the zeolite and the reduction degree of the Fe catalyst, which finding was supported by TG and XRD measurements. It was shown that branched and higher hydrocarbons can be obtained in good yields (From Carbon Dioxide - JtM) by using composite catalysts containing iron-based catalysts with moderate alkali content and zeolites with suitable acidity."
 
Pretty detailed stuff.
 
And, note: This is from Japan, where a coal-to-liquid fuel plant, at Kobe, was the target of Allied bombing in WWII, and from where technical and financial support for a current coal-to-liquid fuel factory, being built in Malaysia, is coming.
 
The upshot: We can make gasoline from Carbon Dioxide using the same technology we can use to make gasoline from coal.
 

CO2 and Sustainable Hydrocarbon Fuels



We have cited the work of Columbia's Lenfest Center previously. They, too, are at work on "closing" the carbon cycle: i.e., Capturing the Carbon Dioxide by-product of coal conversion and combustion, and using it as a raw material with which to make more liquid fuels.
 
Their work emphasizes the validity of other authoritative sources we have cited attesting that a coal-to-liquid fuel conversion industry could lead us into an economically-beneficial and environmentally-friendly era of domestic liquid fuel self-sufficiency.
 
A very brief excerpt: 
 
"This research builds fundamental understanding of high temperature electrolysis of CO2 and CO2/H2O mixtures to form the basis for a new, more efficient pathway to produce synthetic hydrocarbon fuels."
 
Should you research Columbia's efforts more fully, you will find that, as we have earlier suggested and as other researchers are investigating, Lenfest, too, is proposing that the products of CO2 capture and reduction could be added to other raw material streams for the production of more liquid fuel in an appropriately-designed process. In other words, Coal-to-Liquid conversion, and CO2 capture and conversion, could all take place in the same facility and use some of the same processing reactors.

Sustainable Development with Coal Liquids


 
We present more documentation attesting to the fact that liquid fuel and electricity can be produced concurrently, at the same facility, from coal; and that such a design results in reduced CO2 emissions, overall, relative to petroleum-based fuels, as well as other efficiencies.
 
This Princeton study confirms information we earlier sent you from researchers in China.
 
An excerpt from the linked article: 

"Robert H. Williams and Eric D. Larson

Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University Guyot Hall, Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08544-1003, USA.

ABSTRACT: 

Direct and indirect liquefaction technologies for making synthetic liquid fuels from coal are compared. It is shown that although direct liquefaction conversion processes might be more energy-efficient, overall system efficiencies for direct and indirect liquefaction are typically comparable if end-use as well as production efficiencies are taken into account. It is shown that some synfuels derived via indirect liquefaction can outperform fuels derived from crude oil with regard to both air-pollutant and greenhouse-gas emissions, but direct liquefaction-derived synfuels cannot. Deployment now of some indirect liquefaction technologies could put coal on a track consistent with later addressing severe climate and other environmental constraints without having to abandon coal for energy, but deploying direct liquefaction technologies cannot. And finally, there are much stronger supporting technological infrastructures for indirect than for direct liquefaction technologies. Prospective costs in China for some indirect liquefaction-derived fuels are developed but not costs for direct liquefaction-based synfuels, because experience with the latter is inadequate for making meaningful cost projections. Especially promising is the outlook for the indirect liquefaction product dimethyl ether, a versatile and clean fuel that could probably be produced in China at costs competitive with crude oil-derived liquid fuels. An important finding is the potential for realizing, in the case of dimethyl ether, significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissionsrelative to crude oil-derived hydrocarbon fuels, even in the absence of an explicit climate change mitigation policy, when this fuel is co-produced with electricity."

Cogeneration and Co-Feed

 
 
In this report, Chinese researchers, perhaps associated with China's massive Coal-to-Oil initiative, reveal that the valuable liquid fuel, Dimethyl Ether (DME) and electricity can be produced at the same time from one coal conversion plant.
 
Part of the article's focus is on the use of natural gas as a co-feed for such dual-purpose facilities. As we've separately documented, natural gas, as is being done in Quatar, can, like coal, be converted into liquid fuel.
 
Some excerpts: 

"Study on co-feed and co-production system based on coal and natural gas for producing DME and electricity"

Li Zhou, Shanying Hu, Yourun Lia and Qihong Zhou

Chemical Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China


 

Abstract

China, an oil and NG scarcity country, is coal dependent, and this situation will remain for a long time. DME, as an ideal replacer of liquid fuel, is considered to develop. The efficient way of producing DME from coal is under research. Considering the components of coal and natural gas (NG), we choose co-feed (coal and NG) and co-production (electricity and DME) system (Co–Co system) to be studied on. Three systems which are the standalone system, co-generation system and Co–Co system are simulated by Aspen-Plus. The simulation results concerning material flows, exergy flows, CO2 emission and the evaluation indexes are obtained. It is found that Co–Co system has higher exergy efficiency, higher economic benefit, and it is environmental friendly because of releasing the least CO2.The analysis illustrates that Co–Co system has obviously advantage over the other two kinds of systems."