United States Patent Application: 0100098599
As is typical, this United States Patent Application, which, despite it's rather anonymous title, concerns the use of solar energy to recycle Carbon Dioxide, doesn't identify the affiliations of the inventors.
However, web-based sources clearly disclose John Mankins to be the "Manager of Advanced Concepts Studies" at the NASA Headquarters Office of Space Flight; while, Robert Wegeng is a scientist at the USDOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
We've thoroughly documented the participation of the FMC Corporation in the US Government-sponsored "COED" indirect Coal liquefaction pilot plant, which operated for a time in New Jersey.
A specific example would be:
FMC Liquefies Coal for USDOE in New Jersey | Research & Development | News, wherein it is, specifically, reported how to convert "coal to low-sulfur synthetic crude oil".
Herein, FMC discloses how they achieved the conversion of Sulfur-containing Coal into such "low-sulfur synthetic crude".
United States Patent Application: 0060235091
We first refer you to our recent post:
Southern California Recycles More CO2 | Research & Development | News; wherein we disclosed details of: United States Patent: 7608743 - "Efficient and Selective Chemical Recycling of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol, Dimethyl Ether and Derived Products"; 2009; Inventors: George Olah and Surya Prakash; Assignee: The University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Abstract: An efficient and environmentally beneficial method of recycling and producing methanol from varied sources of carbon dioxide including flue gases of fossil fuel burning powerplants, industrial exhaust gases or the atmosphere itself. Converting carbon dioxide by chemical or electrochemical reduction secondary treatment to produce essentially methanol, dimethyl ether and derived products. "
http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/documents/fullText/ACC0358.pdf
Since we are, today, via separate dispatch concerningUnited States Patent Application: 0060235091; for the "Efficient and Selective Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol", as disclosed by the University of Southern California's Nobel Laureate, George Olah, and his USC colleague, Surya Prakash, we wanted, herein, to document that the carbon fuel conversion expertise resident at USC has been recognized, as well, by other branches of our United States Government.
Herein, we learn that our US Department of Energy engaged the services of George Olah and USC to help them develop a better way to convert Coal into liquid hydrocarbons.
There will, we acknowledge, be some redundancies inherent in this report, since it centers on Olah's development of "superacid" catalysis technology, which we have previously, at least to some small extent, documented for you.
Monsanto Patents CO2 Recycling | Research & Development | News
Back in December of 2009, we made report, as linked above, that the Monsanto Chemical Company, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, had developed a technology which enabled the conversion of Carbon Dioxide, reclaimed from whatever source, into valuable "Urethane" plastics.
Monsanto might be a name familiar to some older Ohio Valley hands, since they were once the co-owners of the now wholly-owned Bayer Corporation, formerly "Mobay", chemical plant, north of New Martinsville, WV; where, coincidentally, urethanes are, or once were, among the major product lines manufactured.