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Much of the ground we cover herein might seem almost unbearably redundant.
Yesterday, we sent you a report concerning Carbon Dioxide harvesting technology closely-related and coincident with the subject of our discourse herein; and, unfortunately, that specific technology was one, we just discovered, about which we had already reported a few months ago.
We apologize for all of the regrind, all of the wasted time; and, won't dwell again on the rather difficult personal circumstances we work against here that lead to it.
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We are compelled here to inject, by way of foreword, some editorial comment:
This dispatch concerns itself with yet another technology related to the practical reclamation and recycling of Carbon Dioxide: a valuable raw material from which we can, on a practical basis, and using carbon-free environmental energy to drive the chemical transactions, synthesize virtually any hydrocarbon we might wish, including any and all sorts of gaseous and liquid fuels and plastics.
In the face of the relentless and decades-old negative PR campaign that has been, we intuit now deliberately, and for reasons that likely have at their roots very little to do with genuine concerns about the environment, conducted against Carbon Dioxide, the above statement "feels", even to us, after all our research, somehow "wrong" - - that it just can't be true.
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In addition to it's long-known utility as a raw material in the making of Portland-type Cement, PC; and, as a reactive fine aggregate for that PC to make a better-performing Portland-type Cement Concrete; Coal Ash also has a long track record as a raw material in the making of fired Ceramics, as a replacement for at least some of the other mineral raw materials, typically one sort of clay, or clay mineral, or another, with attendant economies related to avoided costs of excavating those raw materials and disposal costs for the Ash.
Among our reports concerning such potentials, keeping in mind that kiln-fired clay bricks do, indeed, qualify as Ceramics, have been:
West Virginia Coal Association | Coal Ash Makes Better Bricks | Research & Development; concerning:
"US Patent Application 20120031306 - Bricks and Method of Forming Bricks with High Coal Ash Content;
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First, up front, we herein again confirm that Carbon Dioxide, as it arises in only a small way, relative to natural sources of emission, such as volcanoes, from our economically essential use of Coal in the generation of abundant and truly economical electric power, is a valuable raw material resource.
We can reclaim Carbon Dioxide, from whatever convenient source, and then convert that CO2 on a practical basis into a variety of commercially important compounds, including fuel alcohols and hydrocarbons.
In a recent dispatch, now accessible via:
West Virginia Coal Association | Saudi Arabia and Texas CO2 to Hydrocarbon Syngas | Research & Development; we made report of:
"United States Patent 8,288,446 - Catalytic Hydrogenation of CO2 into Syngas Mixture; October 16, 2012; Assignee: Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Riyadh; Abstract: The invention relates to a process of making a syngas mixture containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, comprising a step of contacting a gaseous feed mixture containing carbon dioxide and hydrogen with a catalyst, wherein the catalyst substantially consists of chromia/alumina. This process enables hydrogenation of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide with high selectivity, and good catalyst stability over time and under variations in processing conditions. The process can be applied separately, but can also be combined with other processes, for example up-stream with other synthesis processes for making products like aliphatic oxygenates, olefins or aromatics".
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We've documented a couple of times that Coal Ash can be beneficially utilized in the making of what are known as "Metal Matrix Composites"; that is, a metal object wherein the metal is "filled" or "loaded" with a non-metal material that serves to impart desired properties in the finished product.
A number of metals are posited to be suitable for the manufacture of such composites, although Aluminum is the one we've seen most often described, as in our recent report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Coal Ash & Metal Composites Save Gas, Reduce CO2 | Research & Development; concerning: "Aluminum - Fly Ash Metal Matrix Composites as Advanced Automobile Material; 2001' Cosponsors: United States Department of Energy; Wisconsin Electric Power Company; Electric Power Research Institute; Report Summary: Metal matrix composites such as silicon carbide-aluminum, alumina-aluminum and graphite-aluminum represent a class of emerging materials with significant potential for commercial use in the auto and aerospace industries. In industrial foundry trials, a joint industry and Department of Energy project demonstrated a promising new process for producing a low cost aluminum metal matrix composite containing fly ash particles".
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