Capture of CO2 from Ambient Air

by
Klaus Lackner,
Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University.

The paper cited above was delivered by Klaus Lackner at a Rutgers conference.

If you do even a perfunctory literature search, you'll find that Professor Lackner is a potent intellectual presence in his fields of specialty. We have cited him previously, and, for us, it generates a satisfying sense of validity to be able to quote him again in support of our theses, as in the abstract, below: 

"Abstract

We describe a technology for capturing CO2 directly from ambient air (air capture) at collection rates that far exceed those of trees or other photosynthesizing organisms and at costs that would allow the widespread use of air capture in managing the anthropogenic carbon cycle and combating climate change. The specific technology uses anionic exchange resins in a sorbent swing between a carbonate and bicarbonate form. Once the resin is saturated with CO2, the gas is driven off the resin by exposure to moisture. This humidity swing allows for an extremely energy efficient implementation of carbon dioxide capture. Air capture becomes the CO2 capture of last resort. It can compensate for all those emissions that otherwise would accumulate in the atmosphere by removing a net amount of CO2 from the air that matches a specific emission at a different location and time. At a large scale, air capture can reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and undo the current excursion in greenhouse gas concentrations much faster than natural processes. Finally, the capture of CO2 enables the closure of the carbon cycle by recapturing CO2 and making it the chemical feedstock that provides carbon for fuel synthesis. (Note, again: "CO2...the chemical feedstock ... for fuel synthesis. - JtM) The other inputs are water, which provides hydrogen, and energy from a source that is carbon-free (How's about a hydroelectric generator installed, as in New Martinsville, WV, in analready-existing navigation dam? - JtM).

As we've been saying: CO2  - generated from our use of coal, whether we employ that coal to generate power or to synthesize liquid fuels and chemicals - is a valuable by-product of that coal use. We shouldn't be wasting it, or money, by pumping it all down geological storage rat holes. We can use it to make more liquid fuels.

Extraction of Nitrogen From Coal Liquid

Yoichi Koderaa, Koji Ukegawaa, Yutaka Mito*, Masashi Komoto†, Etsuro Ishikawa† and Tetsuo Nakayama


National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources, 16-3 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan

Abstract

Nitrogen compounds were separated efficiently from coal liquids by solvent extraction with methanol and water. Middle distillates of Wandoan and Battle River coal liquid and a mixture of model compounds were employed as feed oils. This paper reports the experimental conditions for the effective separation of nitrogen compounds, such as quinoline and indole. In particular, the effects of extraction solvents on extraction yield and selectivities of nitrogen compounds were investigated.

NASA: CO2 Not Melting the Ice Caps

 
The title says it all. But, as is our wont, we'll elaborate with some excerpts we believe to be of import, as follows: 
 
"Dr Drew Shindell of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies has led a new study which indicates that much of the general upward trend in temperatures since the 1970s - particularly in the Arctic - may have resulted from changes in levels of solid "aerosol" particles in the atmosphere, rather than elevated CO2...." 

"Shindell's research indicates that, ironically, much of the rise in polar temperature seen over the last few decades may have resulted from US and European restrictions on sulphur emissions. According to NASA:

Sulfates, which come primarily from the burning of coal and oil, scatter incoming solar radiation and have a net cooling effect on climate. Over the past three decades, the United States and European countries have passed a series of laws that have reduced sulfate emissions by 50 percent. While improving air quality and aiding public health, the result has been less atmospheric cooling from sulfates." 
And, we'll take the opportunity to repeat the words of another rocket scientist we earlier quoted for you:
  
"...we know in the future these fuels (i.e., coal liquids - JtM) are going to become important to aviation. Petroleum is dwindling and you're going to need to make fuel out of coal, natural gas and biomass." — Dan Bulzan, NASA Glenn Research Center and AAFEX project manager
 
One reason we're submitting all these pro-coal NASA opinions to you, by the way, is because it was one NASA scientist, James Hansen, who first began to demonize coal as the Carbon Dioxide Devil that would roast us all in a cloud-shrouded Hades if we didn't stop using fossil fuels.
 
His learned colleagues, apparently, do not concur.
 
And, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
 
aerosol levels from dust storms and volcanoes alone would account for as much as 70 per cent of the temperature rise seen in the Atlantic ocean during the past 26 years, leaving carbon simply nowhere.

Japan, NxO Emission Control


 
We have detailed how carbon emissions from coal plants can be captured and profitably utilized, and we've cited information from Sasol, in South Africa, regarding the control of Nitrogen emissions from CTL facilities.
 
The Japanese have addressed NxO emissions, as well, perhaps relative to their Southeast Asia CTL enterprises, also earlier documented. You will recall that Japan, as well as Germany, in WWII developed coal-to-liquid fuel technology for their military, and at least one CTL factory in Japan, at Kobe, became a strategic target of Allied bombing because of it's importance.
 
Some excerpts from the linked article:

"Yoichi Koderaa, Koji Ukegawaa, Yutaka Mito*, Masashi Komoto†, Etsuro Ishikawa† and Tetsuo Nakayama


National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources, 16-3 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan 
  

Abstract

Nitrogen compounds were separated efficiently from coal liquids (emphasis - JtM) by solvent extraction with methanol and water. Middle distillates of Wandoan and Battle River coal liquid and a mixture of model compounds were employed as feed oils. This paper reports the experimental conditions for the effective separation of nitrogen compounds, such as quinoline and indole. In particular, the effects of extraction solvents on extraction yield and selectivities of nitrogen compounds were investigated."

There should, in any case, have been no doubt that Nitrogen can be "separated efficiently from coal liquids". If you will recall, a significant part of the production from China's planned 88 coal-to-liquid conversion plants will intentionally be directed toward the synthesis of nitrogenous fertilizer for their agricultural industries.

Energy-Efficient Electrochemical CO2 Capture from the Atmosphere


As we have been reporting, CO2 can be harvested on an industrial scale, not only from the exhaust flues of coal-fired power plants and coal-to-liquid conversion facilities, but from the atmosphere itself.
 
An excerpt:

"In this contribution, we report on the experimental demonstration of a continuously operating modified fuel cell capable of capturing CO2 at atmospheric concentrations with record efficiency. The atmosphere provides O2 and CO2 at the cathode, with CO2 transported from the cathode to the anode as HCO3- and CO3-- ions. These ions then combine with H+ ions at the anode to form concentrated CO2 gas. We measure the energy expended per amount of CO2 captured, and find that our system is the most energy-efficient atmospheric CO2 capture device demonstrated to date, greatly improving on our previously reported results. Other demonstrations of electrochemical CO2 capture [2] have focused on higher CO2 concentrations (800 ppm - 4300 ppm) as they were designed for the removal of CO2 from enclosed spaces like submarines and space shuttles, not the atmosphere. For comparison, at 800 ppm our system uses two times less energy (< 2 MW-hr/ton) than previous demonstrations."

Once you have the CO2, as we've documented, you can do some useful things with it - besides pump it down a rat hole or put bubbles in your soda. You can use it, in conjunction with Hydrogen, electrolyzed from water, to make more liquid fuel.