Illinois Algae Convert Flue Gas CO2 into $60 Oil for USDOE

Energy Citations Database (ECD) - - Document #10132222

First, right off the bat, don't get too excited about our headline.

The Algae we make report of herein can make Oil out of flue gas Carbon Dioxide for an average of $60 per barrel only if they get subsidized by the Cap & Trade taxation of our Coal-based electrical power generation industries, and their customers, to the tune of $60 per ton of Carbon consumed by the Algae.

Those figures are averages, rough averages, we've deduced from the numbers provided, and, it all doesn't at first sound too exciting.

Penn State Seeks US Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Patent

United States Patent Application: 0080256852

A few years ago, we informed you that the Pennsylvania State University had applied for international patent protection on a Coal liquefaction technology they had developed, one which can efficiently convert Coal into a wide variety of liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

Our report of that fact is now accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via the link:

Penn State Seeks CoalTL Patent | Research & Development; and concerns:

Wyoming Converts Coal Ash to Construction Aggregates

United States Patent: 6334895

We've touched several times on the utilization, after some initial processing, of Coal combustion Ash as an aggregate, both for use as loose or compacted fill in general construction and as a component of structural materials, most especially concerning it's use as a substitute for at least some of the sand and gravel in concrete.

New Jersey Recycles More Carbon Dioxide

United States Patent Application: 0110114504

In a very recent dispatch, now accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via the link:

Princeton Scientists Convert More CO2 to Methanol and Ethanol | Research & Development; concerning:

"United States Patent Application 20110114502 - Reducing Carbon Dioxide to Products; May, 2011; Inventors: Emily Barton Cole (and) Andrew Bocarsly, et. al.; A method for reducing carbon dioxide to one or more products (including) ethanol, ethylene, ... methane, methanol ... and polymers";

North Dakota Commercial Coal to Methane

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/publications/Brochures/dg_knowledge_gained.pdf

We have, of course, several times documented the operation of an indirect Coal conversion facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, by the well-known Eastman Chemical Company.

At Kingsport, Coal is first gasified, that is, partially oxidized and converted into a blend of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide synthesis gas.