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In further support of our contention that CO2 - generated by our coal use - should be and could be a valuable raw material resource, we submit the enclosed information from Novomer, who are reducing to commercial practice the CO2 recycling technologies developed, and being developed, by Cornell University.
An excerpt:
"Novomer uses carbon dioxide as a major input in a competitively priced, precision-quality, chemical process that produces a class of uniform polymers, plastics and other chemicals."
Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant. It is a valuable by-product from our use of coal in the generation of power, or in the conversion of coal into liquid fuels.
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More on the work at New York's Columbia University, printed in a United Kingdom newspaper, concerning the capture and use of CO2.
An excerpt:
"Lackner says that device works, but the "humidity switch" could slash the scrubber's energy use tenfold. He said: "We can do it coming out carbon positive."
The team is also working on ways to dispose of the pure CO2 gas produced by each scrubber.
The patent suggests the scrubber could be connected to greenhouses, where the CO2 would boost plant growth. Or the gas could be used to grow algae, for food, fertiliser or fuel. The latter could "close the carbon loop," Lackner said."
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An excerpt:
Chemical plants, in this vision, could generate liquid hydrocarbons by taking hydrogen from natural gas or even water and combining it with CO2 to make fuels that would cut the demand for crude oil."
We have several times already reported on this potential. There are a number of ways to go about recovering CO2 from the flue gasses of coal-fired power plants and coal-to-liquid fuel refineries - and then converting it into useful products, such as more liquid fuel.
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An excerpt:
" Perdaman plans to utilise environmentally friendly, best in class technologies that will transform sub-bituminous coal into urea by way of innovative and low emissions coal gasification technology,"
To emphasize a few, important, points:
They will be making the urea from - relative to WV bituminous coal - low-organic and high-ash Australian, sub-bituminous, lignite.
As we've noted as being possible, the conversion of coal to liquid chemicals and fuel, via several gasification and direct liquefaction processes, can be accomplished in an "environmentally friendly" way, with low emissions.
CTL is real, it is practical. It can be an environmentally sound, even beneficial, industrial process.
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Here's one planned WV coal-to-liquids plant that seems to be moving ahead.
An excerpt:
"When the plant becomes operational in 2013, the $3 billion facility is expected to use 3 million tons of locally mined coal of all grades each year to produce over 6.5 million barrels of gasoline."
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