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Our most recent dispatch, which yet again confirmed the plain truth that Carbon Dioxide, as is co-produced in a small way, in terms of energy units actually produced and distributed versus Carbon Dioxide units emitted - - relative to the CO2 emitted by alternative energy processes such as the combination of mechanized farming, biological fermenting and heat-based distilling activities, all of which, through the combustion of fuel for energy or the biochemical breakdown of carbohydrates and sugars, emit Carbon Dioxide, and which are all demanded by and all go into the production of "clean, green" Corn Ethanol - - by our essential use of Coal in the generation of abundant and truly affordable electric power, is a valuable raw material resource, which can, using only Sunlight to power the process, be converted into hydrocarbons, specifically substitute natural gas Methane, is now accessible via:
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First, folks, an explanation, and a caveat, something of both an apology and an admonition:
If any of you have followed our reports over the past years, you now know, that, beyond doubt, beyond any conceivably sane argument or objection, our abundant United States Coal resources can be efficiently and economically converted into anything, quite literally anything, we now, like docile and blissfully, maybe willfully, unknowing sheep being led into the slaughterhouse staging pens, allow our national and personal wealth to be transferred to the foreign, we dare say alien, treasuries of OPEC to keep ourselves supplied with in the here and now.
More than that, Carbon-recycling and eternally-renewable organic material of botanical origin can be added to the Coal, and be converted into petroleum and natural gas substitutes right along with that Coal, in a way that introduces an element of
sustainability to such conversion processes; in a way which could expand the output of those processes and eventually make the whole enterprise self-sustaining; and, in a way which could open up a whole new arena of opportunity and enterprise for United States Coal Country.
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We submit to you herein just more evidence of the fact that our unjustly maligned Coal Ash can serve admirably, and be profitably employed, as a substitute raw material in the manufacture of kiln-fired ceramics, with the understanding that regular old "bricks", coarse as they might appear, do qualify as ceramics.
That fact was confirmed not all that long ago by our United States Navy, as seen in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | US Navy Makes Ceramics from Coal Ash | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 5,521,132
- Ash-based Ceramic Materials; 1996; Assignee: The USA as Represented by the Secretary of the Navy; Abstract: A ceramic material made from raw coal fly ash".
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As we occasionally note, some, but not all, of the seemingly more effective processes for converting our abundant Coal and our some-say-too-abundant Carbon Dioxide into needed hydrocarbons, as, for just two examples, seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Exxon Multi-Stage Hydrogen Donor Coal Liquefaction | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 4,210,518 - Hydrogen-donor Coal Liquefaction Process; 1980; Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Abstract: Improved liquid yields are obtained during the hydrogen-donor solvent liquefaction of coal ... . Government Interests: The Government of the United States of America has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. E(49-18)-2353 awarded by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. Claims: A hydrogen-donor liquefaction process for converting coal or similar carbonaceous solids into lower molecular weight liquid hydrocarbons. In processes of this type, the coal ... is contacted with molecular hydrogen and a hydrogen-donor solvent at elevated temperature and pressure in a liquefaction zone"; and:
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We've documented for you in a number of past reports that Coal Ash can serve as a viable, and valuable, source of Aluminum, or Aluminum Ore.
Those reports have included, for a few examples:
West Virginia Coal Association | Iowa Mines Metals from Coal Ash for the USDOE | Research & Development; concerning, in part: "United States Patent 4,397,822 - Process for the Recovery of Alumina from Fly Ash; 1983; Inventor: Marlyn Murtha, Iowa; Government Interests: The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. W-7405-ENG-82 between the U.S. Department of Energy and Ames Laboratory. Abstract: An improvement in the lime-sinter process for recovering alumina from pulverized coal fly ash is disclosed. The addition of from 2 to 10 weight percent carbon and sulfur to the fly ash-calcium carbonate mixture increase alumina recovery at lower sintering temperatures";
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