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The fact that technology exists for recycling the Carbon Dioxide by-product of our fossil fuel use should, by now, be old news to our readers.
What should continue to be surprising, though, is the increasing number of ways we're finding through which Carbon Dioxide conversion, into hydrocarbon fuels and organic chemical manufacturing raw materials, can be accomplished.
From Penn State University, we now know that Methane, which can itself be manufactured, via the Nobel-winning Sabatier process, and other technologies, from Carbon Dioxide, or, via long-known gasification techniques, from Coal, can be combined, in a "Tri-Reforming" process, to synthesize methanol or other, valuable, higher hydrocarbons.
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Herein is yet another United States Patent documenting that Coal can, in a practical way, be converted into liquid fuels.
Our excerpt will be relatively brief, with some comment, and a brief additional excerpt, appended.
As follows:
"United States Patent 4,917,791: "Process and catalysts for hydroconversion of coal or petroleum asphaltene to distillate liquid. April 17, 1990.
Abstract: A two-stage catalytic hydroconversion process using a large-pore catalyst in the first stage reactor and a small-pore catalyst in the second stage reactor in the two-stage process for hydroconversion of coal or petroleum asphaltene feed materials to produce distillate liquid fuels. The large-pore catalyst is characterized by having pore diameters larger than 1000.ANG. occupying a major portion of the catalyst total pore volume of 0.2 to 1.0 cc/gm, and the small-pore catalyst is characterized by having pore diameters smaller than 1000.ANG. occupying a major portion of the catalyst total pore volume.
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As via the enclosed link, attached document and excerpt, collaborating scientists in China and Switzerland report they have developed the technology to convert Carbon Dioxide, from flue gas, into a variety of profitable chemicals and liquid fuels.
Their overuse of technical terms can be confusing, although they do explain some of them in the body of the text. They speak of reacting CO2 with methane, in perhaps the same fashion as proposed by Penn State University, to synthesize "oxygenates", a class of organic chemicals that includes, as they note, Methanol.
Once Methanol is obtained, many other valuable organic compounds, including gasoline, as in the "MTG"(r) technology which is being, it seems, according to other reports we've cited for you, reduced to practice in China by ExxonMobil.
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We very recently made separate report on this US Department of Energy's Coal Liquefaction project, designated as DE-AC22-94PC93054.
We submit this additional information on that project, through two links, one above and one following, with accompanying excerpts, because we think they present some "illumination" which deserves emphasis.
As customary, we insert and append comment.
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We apologize for the size of this dispatch, comprising two enclosed links and two attached files, with excerpts, but we think it worthwhile.
Herein, it is documented that, even in a faraway, non-industrialized land, they recognize the inherent value in Carbon Dioxide, and have been at work to further develop the technology for employing it, in combination with Methane, in a fashion that seems similar to Penn State University's "Tri-reforming" process, as we have reported, to synthesize higher hydrocarbons, including plastics and liquid fuels.
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