| "Title: | How to convert carbon dioxide into synthetic hydrocarbon through a process of catalytic hydrogenation called CO2hydrocarbonation |
| Patent ID: | US6987134 |
| Issue Date: | January 17, 2006 |
| Abstract: | This process uses two catalysts instead of one, converting CO2 into C8H18. Addition of a NaCl catalyst to a Ni catalyst improves the efficiency of Fischer's process because the salt catalyst retains humidity. Furthermore, chlorine opens chemical chains and sodium prevents crystals of oxygen from covering the Ni catalyst. If we are equipped to produce CO2 from biogas or smoke, we can recycle this CO2 and yield a useful liquid. In fact, recycling CO2 into a synthetic crude hydrocarbon, octane, contributes to clean air and to produce a valuable source of energy. Because CO2 is a renewable resource, this process favors a lasting economic development.(Emphasis - JtM) FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a process for producing hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide, in particular, to a process for producing synthetic crude hydrocarbon from carbon dioxide by catalytic hydrogenation." "Synthetic crude ... from Carbon Dioxide". Sounds good to us. |
We've demonstrated and documented that Carbon Dioxide can be captured from coal plant flue gasses and even, in a practical way, from the atmosphere itself. Once we have the CO2, we can use it as a raw material to manufacture more liquid fuels and organic chemicals. That plain fact is evidenced by our own, US, Patent office, as evidenced by the enclosed link, and the excerpt, following:
We present this information, from our own, US, National Energy Technology Laboratory to document that Carbon Dioxide can be directly captured from Coal-To-Liquid conversion facilities.
An excerpt:
"Pre-combustion CO2 capture relates to gasification plants, where fuel is converted into gaseous components by applying heat under pressure in the presence of steam. CO2 can be captured from the synthesis gas that emerges from the coal gasification reactor before it is mixed with air in a combustion turbine. Here the CO2 is relatively concentrated and at a high pressure."
This NETL report relates directly to the conversion (gasification) of coal to syngas, which would then be used, in their scenario, for power generation. However, the coal-derived syngas, instead of being burned in a steam generator, could just as easily be directed into a Fischer-Tropsch reactor and converted into liquid fuel.
Either way, for either use, the Carbon Dioxide generated by the gasification process is captured, and, as we have elsewhere seen, and will see, it can then be used for the synthesis of more liquid fuel.
Our rocket scientists are working on it now, and we aren't pointing it out that way to be humorous or derisive.
(The "F-T" in the title, in case you wondered, refers to our now-familiar Fischer-Tropsch.)
They, NASA, got us to the moon in less than ten years. Maybe they can free us from the chains of foreign oil suppliers, the way they freed us from the chains of earth's gravity, in the same amount of time.
A meaningful excerpt:
"...we know in the future these fuels 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
The words of this genuine rocket scientist bear repeating: "...you're (we're - JtM) going to need to make fuel out of coal...".
Some excerpts:
"For a plant making liquid fuel from coal, rather than using carbon monoxide and hydrogen as intermediates, which is the current method (in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Sasol's processes - JtM), one can reduce the overall carbon dioxide emissions by using carbon dioxide and hydrogen as intermediates in the process, say the researchers."
"That example showed, paradoxically, if you use hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which looks like a worse alternative, you could actually do better," says Glasser (Prof. David Glasser, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa - JtM)."
"The example stated already reaches beyond mere research, and Glasser says that there is a pilot plant running in China and a demonstration plant in Australia, which incorporate these ideas."
The CO2 used as an intermediate for liquid fuel production can be generated intentionally as syngas from coal in a coal-to-liquid plant, or collected from coal power or coal-to-liquid plant incidental emissions, or sucked from the atmosphere itself. The Hydrogen can be electrolyzed from water - generating clean and green pure Oxygen as a by-product.
We've demonstrated that technologies exist to not only capture CO2 emissions, from coal power or coal-to-liquid factories, but to recycle it into more liquid fuel.But, another greenhouse gas - Nitrous Oxide - is emitted from coal-use processes, as well. And, even though it is generated in smaller quantities than CO2, it is also considered, on a weight-to-weight basis, to be a more potent agent of "global warming".Both gasses are sort of "lumped" together by regulatory bodies and agencies when it comes to the calculation of emission effects.As is getting to be routine, our South African coal-to-liquid friends, Sasol, have addressed, as in the enclosed article, the problem of NO2 emissions. And, they have addressed them so well that they are actually given "carbon credits" for their coal use processes, credits they can sell, like a commodity, to other greenhouse gas emitters whose processes aren't so "clean".Some excerpts:"Sasol, a South African Company has become the first company globally to register a nitrous oxide (N2O) abatement project using secondary catalyst technology to convert the greenhouse gas N2O into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases."
"The project is expected to earn significant income through sales of the resulting carbon credits. A share of these carbon credits will be invested to benefit local community-based sustainable development projects."And, remember, we have documented that coal-derived liquid fuels actually burn cleaner than their petroleum-based counterparts.Producing our liquid fuels from coal would actually benefit the environment.